The Edo State High Court, Criminal Court 2, has ordered the remand of some youths involved in the protest that rocked the Ekpoma area of the state at the Ubiaja Correctional Centre.
This followed the plea of the prosecution for a 14-day remand period.
Some of the protesters and their relatives, who were present at the court, wailed as those arrested were moved into a waiting vehicle.
Angry youths had last weekend demonstrated against the spate of kidnapping and other forms of insecurity in the town located in the Esan West Local Government Area.
A viral video showed some residents in the Edo Central region of the state protesting the rising kidnappings and killings.
The video also showed some people, suspected to be cattle breeders, fleeing a market upon sighting some protesters.
The police said they had swiftly intervened to restore peace and public safety when the protest was “hijacked”.
In a statement on Sunday, it said that upon the commencement of the protest on Saturday, the Area Commander, Ekpoma, immediately mobilised police personnel in strategic collaboration with sister security agencies to ensure that the protest remained peaceful, orderly, and within the confines of the law.
“Regrettably, the protest was hijacked, and all the rules of peaceful protest were ignored, which led to incidents, including malicious damages, looting of property, vandalisation of shops, as well as a military personnel discharging firearms at a protester,” the statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Eno Ikoedem, partly read.
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