BY EVELYN USMAN
LAGOS — Commercial activities at the popular abattoir in Agege area of Lagos State were, yesterday, disrupted following protest by some butchers over the arrest of 10 of their members by the police.
The butchers who came out in their numbers, displayed placards and chanted anti government songs to register their grouse over the new scheme by the state government, over the new Eko Meat Van scheme, which they claimed was not in their interest. Unconfirmed report said several persons sustained varying degrees of injuries in the process.
Contacted, Deputy Police Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, Damasus Ozoani, described the report as untrue, saying policemen were able to curtail the matter.
Ozoani, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, added that the police were able to quell the protest and restore peace.
He explained that “Some disgruntled butchers took to the street to protest the new Eko meat selling van that replaced the old ones they were driving.
“Although the new ones are equipped with all the modern day instrument used in meat butchering and haulage, the disgruntled ones stopped the vehicle from going out to their various destinations today (yesterday).
“When the information filtered in, the Agege Police Division promptly deployed some of its operatives to the area and they were able to disperse the protesters.
“We have policemen on ground there at the moment pending the outcome of the meeting between the stakeholders and the aggrieved persons. We hope all the differences will be sorted out.”
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