Again, FCT police deploy helicopters as protesters allege infiltration

The Police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have again deployed helicopters to monitor the ongoing hunger protest in Abuja as some of the arrowheads of the protest said counter-protesters are infiltrating the protest ground to instigate violence.

The Guardian gathered that most of the protesters who were heading to the protest ground in buses were being stopped.

Unlike yesterday, the protesters have been unable to gather in large numbers, a situation that has confined them around the stadium.

As of 12:15 pm, protesters were still finding their way to the Moshood Abiola Stadium as police helicopters hovered over the city, especially the stadium.

One of the arrowheads, who pleaded anonymity, said a woman has been identified as a key sponsor of some of the infiltrators.

Meanwhile, as the nationwide protest against hunger and bad governance enters day two, commercial drivers and private car owners have resorted to decorating their cars with tree branches in solidarity with the demonstrators to avoid vandalisation.

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The Guardian had reported on Thursday that scores of protesters attacked vehicles allegedly belonging to government officials plying the road that led to the National Mosque and the National Christian Center, Abuja.

According to The Guardian report, protesters who had marched to the area after they were blocked from accessing the Eagle Square were seen smashing windscreens and damaging bodywork of vehicles they suspected belonged to government officials.

The Guardian observed a motorcade, escorted by motorcycles, approached the area.

Protesters, who had already barricaded the road, surrounded the vehicles, suspecting they belonged to government officials.

The protesters began hitting the vehicles, shouting “Tinubu must go,” pelting the vehicles with stones.

Moments later, another vehicle, suspected to belong to a government official, was targeted by the crowd with the vehicle windscreen pelted and destroyed with stones.

Worried by the development, drivers across the territory have started decorating their cars in solidarity with the protesters to avoid their vehicles being mistaken for government officials’ cars.

Commercial drivers operating between Dei-Dei and Jabi axis of the FCT have all decorated their vehicles. Some private car owners were also observed to have decorated their vehicles with tree branches.