* Shi'ite protesters have clashed repeatedly with police
* Group seeks release of religious leader held since 2015
* Violence, banditry haunts Africa's biggest economy
(Updates death toll, journalist killed)
By Abraham Achirga
ABUJA, July 22 (Reuters) - Nigerian police and Shi'ite
Muslim protesters clashed in the capital Abuja on Monday, with
at least one demonstrator, one journalist and a senior policeman
killed, highlighting one of the security challenges faced by the
country with Africa's biggest economy.
A youth leader who was among the Islamic Movement of Nigeria
(IMN) protesters said he saw six dead bodies, while a Reuters
correspondent in Abuja spotted one corpse, vehicles ablaze and
bloodstains along a main street following bursts of gunfire.
Police said a senior officer was killed and three other
policemen were injured during the protest, and police had
arrested 54 suspects who would be brought to court. A reporter died after being shot during the rally,
international organization the Committee to Protect Journalists
Africa tweeted. The local television station, Channels TV,
confirmed the tweet.
A spokesman for Islamic Movement in Nigeria said 11 people
were killed and at least 30 others injured. He said the police
attacked a peaceful march in the capital Abuja, where they were
marching to demand for their leader Ibrahim Zakzaky to be freed.
Ibrahim Musa, president of the Media forum of the Islamic
Movement in Nigeria, said in a statement that trouble started
when the police prevented the group who are on a peaceful
protest from accessing their way in Abuja.
The clashes in Abuja's business district, which lasted for
about an hour, underscored the security problems in Africa's top
oil producer and most populous nation - a country that is
central to regional stability.
In recent days, bandits in the northwest killed at least 37
people, Islamist insurgents are suspected to have kidnapped aid
workers in the northeast and pirates abducted Turkish sailors in
the Gulf of Guinea.
IMN members regularly take to the streets of Abuja to call
for the release of Zakzaky, who has been in detention since
2015. They say Zakzaky requires medical help. Live ammunition
and teargas have reportedly been used by security forces in
recent weeks. IMN youth leader Abdullahi Muhammed said he saw more than 20
casualties in Abuja on Monday, including people who had been
shot in their legs and stomach. "I have seen six corpses," he
said, adding that police had taken away many of the bodies.
He said the protest began as a peaceful march but police
"started shooting with live ammunition at us".
Nigerian broadcasting company Channels TV said in a tweet
that one of its reporters was shot in the stomach.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said IMN
protesters set two of its vehicles on fire.
In a statement, Amnesty International called on the Nigerian
authorities to investigate the incident and bring to justice
those responsible.
'SECURITY FOR EVERY CITIZEN'
The inspector general of police said he had briefed
President Muhammadu Buhari on the situation.
"The president asked us to make sure we provide security for
every citizen of this country and not to leave any space that
some group of people will create breakdown of law and order," he
told reporters in Abuja.
Clashes between police and Zakzaky's backers have raised
fears that IMN might turn to violent insurgency as did Sunni
Islamist group Boko Haram after police killed their leader in
2009.
Zakzaky has been held in detention since December 2015, when
the army killed roughly 350 of his followers at his compound and
a nearby mosque and burial ground in northern Kaduna state.
Zakzaky faces trial on charges of murder, culpable homicide,
unlawful assembly, disruption of public peace and other offences
following the 2015 violence. He has pleaded not guilty.
Buhari, a former military ruler, began a second four-year
term in May after winning re-election in February following a
campaign in which he vowed to improve security nationwide. He
has repeated that pledge in the last few days.
The presidency, in a statement on Friday, urged IMN members
to cease their protests on the grounds that the matter was being
dealt with in the legal system and not the government.