Police ban Muslim procession in volatile Kano

Police have banned a street procession planned by a Muslim sect in the volatile northern city of Kano on Saturday, following the killing of scores of people in anti-Christian riots last month. Baba Mohammed, police spokesman in the city of seven million people, said the annual procession of the moderate Qaddiriyya sect to mark the birthday of its founder, Abdulkadir Zailani, had been forbidden in the "interest of peace." Previous processions by the sect in Kano have been peaceful, but tension has remained high in the overwhelmingly Islamic city following the 11-12 May rampage against minority Christians by Muslim mobs. They had set out to avenge the deaths of hundreds of Muslims massacred by a Christian tribal militia in Plateau State in central Nigeria a few days earlier. Christian groups in Kano state had accused some radical Muslims of stocking up on machetes, bows and arrows and other weapons with the aim of unleashing further violence on Saturday. “Some people are still mourning their dead, wounds are yet to heal, some displaced people are still in camps,” the police spokesman told reporters. “It would be unwise to do anything to escalate the tension.” He said police had advised the Qaddiriyya sect to restrict Saturday's celebrations to its own premises in order to prevent hoodlums from seizing the opportunity to unleash mayhem. Abdulljabba Kabara, a leader of the Qaddiriyya sect, said his movement had accepted the police advice and had called off its annual street procession. This has been held in Kano every year for the past 53 years. “We’ll confine the ceremony to the Qaddiriyya House,” Kabara said. “We’re making this sacrifice for the sake of peace.”