From Nnamdi Ofonye, Owerri
Public peace was on Saturday threatened in Owerri, the Imo state capital after a group of people suspected to be members of Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra attempted to barricade major streets in the state capital.
An eye witness account told HOMELAND NEWS that the group who arrived the state in large numbers from all the south eastern states had since the early hours of Saturday been roaming the streets with their flag hoisted on each of their vehicles.
According to the source who was not sure of the reason for their presence in the state, the anger of the police was drawn after the group was said to have tried to barricade the ever busy “control Junction” which led to confrontation between the MASSOB members and the police.
However, a call for reinforcement saw more heavily armed mobile policemen drafted to the scene forcing the dissidents to beat a retreat but not before the atmosphere was polluted with tear gas fired by the security operatives forcing people to scamper for safety.
However, the Police public relations officer, Andrew Emerem confirmed the incident but declined to comment whether arrests were made.
