Nigeria's police have banned protests calling for the return of hundreds of schoolgirls that were abducted by Boko Haram militants over a month ago.
Police implemented the ban in the capital Abuja for the safety of residents and drivers in the area. The protests have escalated to the point where they pose "a serious security threat," Police Commissioner Joseph Mbu said in a statement obtained by CNN.
"I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness," Mbu said.
Local and international pressure has increased on Nigerian forces to return over 200 girls that were kidnapped from a boarding school in the northern village of Chibok by the militant group Boko Haram on April 14.
Police fear the protests calling for the girls' return will grow violent.
"Information reaching us is that too soon dangerous elements will join the groups under the guise of protest and detonate explosive(s) aimed at embarrassing the government. Accordingly protests on the Chibok Girls is hereby banned with immediate effect," Mbu said.
Prior to the ban, an altercation occurred between protest groups under two different organizers- #BringBackOurGirls and the government-funded group #ReleaseOurGirls, the BBC reported.
Jibrin Ibrahim, director of the Nigeria-based Center for Democracy and Development who was involved in the protests, said he plans on appealing the ban in court.
"We are sure that the courts will affirm our right to exercise constitutional rights and that therefore we'll be able to continue with our protests," Ibrahim, of #BringBackOurGirls, told the BBC.
The real threat, Ibrahim added, comes from #ReleaseOurGirls.
"The government funded a group to come and disrupt our peaceful sit-in and attack us and he is now using that fact to say there is a threat," he told the BBC.
Boko Haram, which translates to "Western education is forbidden," has terrorized and killed thousands of Nigerian citizens ever since it launched its campaign to form an Islamic state in 2009.
