At least nine people were killed in Nigeria when security forces clashed with protesters during massive demonstrations over the country’s economic crisis, a rights group said on Friday. A policeman was killed as the military threatened to intervene to quell any violence.
Meanwhile, a bomb exploded among protesters in the conflict-affected northeastern state of Borno on Thursday, killing four people and injuring 34 others, authorities said.
Police continued to fire tear gas at protesters in several locations including the capital Abuja on Friday as they regrouped.
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Nigeria’s Defense Minister, Gen. Christopher Musa, said the military would also intervene if Thursday’s looting and destruction of public property continued. “We will not stand by and let this country be destroyed,” Musa told reporters in Abuja.
Nigerian police said more than 400 protesters had been arrested as of Friday. Five northern states imposed curfews after looting of government and public property, but protesters violated them in some places, leading to arrests and clashes with police.
National police chief Kayode Egbetokun said late Thursday that police were on red alert and might seek help from the military.
People protest on the streets against economic hardship on Friday, August 2, 2024, in Lagos, Nigeria. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
Amnesty International Nigeria director Isa Sanusi said in an interview that the organization independently verified deaths reported by witnesses, victims’ families and lawyers.
The protests have centered on food shortages in Africa’s most populous country and accusations of poor governance and corruption. Nigeria’s public officials are among the highest paid in Africa, a stark contrast to a country with some of the world’s poorest and hungriest people, despite being one of the continent’s largest oil producers.
The cost-of-living crisis is the worst in a generation as inflation surges to a 28-year high and the government’s economic policies push the local currency to record lows against the dollar.
The protesters, mostly young people, carried placards, bells, tree branches and Nigeria’s green-and-white flag and chanted songs as they listed their demands, including the restoration of gas and oil that had been scrapped in economic reform efforts. Electricity subsidies.
Violence and looting are concentrated in Nigeria’s northern states, which are among the areas worst affected by hunger and insecurity. Dozens of protesters ran with looted items, including furniture and gallons of cooking oil.
Police chief Egbetokun said police “aim to ensure peaceful conduct”. But he added that “sadly, today’s events in some major cities show that mass uprisings and looting rather than protests are being instigated.”
The police chief’s claims have been disputed by human rights groups and activists. “Our findings to date indicate that at locations where casualties occurred, security personnel deliberately used tactics designed to kill people,” Sanusi said.
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Authorities fear the protests that have intensified on social media could lead to a repeat of the West African nation’s deadly demonstrations over police brutality in 2020, or a wave of violence similar to last month’s chaotic tax hike protests in Kenya.
However, Aniti Ewang, a Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that as protests turned violent in some places, the threats that emerged “did not require this level of police response.”
