SEVERAL persons were seriously injured yesterday in Lagos while an unspecified number of vehicles were vandalized after officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authorty (LASTMA) clashed with members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers.
The clash which occurred along the ever busy Ikorodu road paralysed commercial and social activities in the area as street urchins popularly called Area boys cashed in on the situation to wreak havoc on defenceless commuters. Private vehicles were brazenly destroyed while shop owners along the road hurriedly closed for the day for fear of having their wares looted. The cause of the fight was not immediately known, but police sources said trouble started when a team of LASTMA officials arrived a popular bus stop along Ikorodu road and started towing away commercial buses for allegedly constituting traffic offence
According to sources, the action of LASTMA officials was vehemently resisted and trouble soon started during which dangerous weapons were freely used. But a detachment of heavily armed anti riot police men were immediately dispatched to the scene, chased the Area boys away and restored normalcy. But at the end of the mayhem, scores of people from both sides had broken skulls and ankles. Pieces of vandalized windscreens littered the entire road when Vanguard visited the scene at about 10.30 am.
Vanguard.