Hundreds of people in Nigeria‘s Lagos State were left homeless on Sunday after police stormed an informal fishing settlement and set fire to their homes, according to rights groups and residents.
Members of the Otodo Gbame riverine community said armed police fired bullets and tear gas indiscriminately, forcing them onto canoes in the water as their houses were
One man was shot in the neck and later died, residents and Justice and Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), a Lagos-based group working with the community, told newsmen.
The forceful eviction followed the destruction of the homes of more than 4,700 people in the settlement in mid-March for environmental and health reasons, according to local authorities.
“[Police] came very, very early in the morning [of Sunday],” Tina Edukpo, a 21-year-old Otodo Gbame resident, told Al Jazeera by phone.
“When I saw them, I was surprised,” she said.
