A large number of Muslim Americans have held a demonstration in New York to condemn the Nigerian military’s massacre of Shia Muslims.
According to Press TV, the demonstrators on Friday gathered in Midtown Manhattan near the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations and called for the release of senior Nigerian cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky.
The protesters chanted slogans and carried placards condemning the Nigerian military’s oppression against Muslims.
Hundreds of Shia Muslims have been killed during the weekend after clashes erupted between the Nigerian army and Shia Muslims in the northern city of Zaria in Kaduna State.
The clashes broke out when Nigerian soldiers opened fire on the people attending a religious ceremony at Hussainiyah Baqiyatullah, a religious center belonging to the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN).
The Nigerian military accused the Shias of trying to stop a convoy of Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai. The military also accused the Shias of attempting to assassinate Buratai - a charge Zakzaky, the IMN leader, denied.
Zakzaky was arrested during a raid by the army on his residence and the buildings connected to the Shia community in Zaria.
source : irib
