Nigerian security forces clashed with protesters during mass demonstrations over the country’s economic crisis, leaving at least nine people dead, a rights group said on Friday, with one police officer killed as the military threatened to intervene to quell the violence.
Meanwhile, a bomb exploded among a crowd of protesters in the conflict-hit northeastern state of Borno on Thursday, killing four people and wounding 34, authorities said.
Police continued to fire tear gas in various locations, including the capital, Abuja, as protesters regrouped on Friday.
Security forces rescue 14 Nigerian students kidnapped by gunmen
The commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Defence Forces, Gen. Christopher Musa, said the military would step in if the looting and destruction of public facilities witnessed on Thursday continued. “We are not going to sit back and allow this country to be destroyed,” Musa told reporters in Abuja.
More than 400 protesters had been arrested as of Friday, according to Nigerian police. Protesters in some areas defied a night-time curfew imposed in five northern states following the looting of government and public buildings, leading to arrests and clashes with police.
The national police commissioner, Kayode Egbetokun, said on Thursday night that police had declared a state of emergency and may call for military assistance.
People protest against economic hardship on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, August 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Sunday Aramba)
Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s Nigeria director, said in an interview that the organization had independently verified the deaths reported by witnesses, victims’ families and lawyers.
The protests have been largely over food shortages and accusations of misgovernance and corruption in Africa’s most populous country, where civil servants are among the best paid in Africa – in contrast to Nigeria, the continent’s leading oil producer but home to some of the world’s poorest and hungriest people.
The cost-of-living crisis is the worst in a decade and has been exacerbated by soaring inflation, which is at a 28-year high, and government economic policies that have pushed the local currency to a record low against the dollar.
Carrying signs, bells, tree branches and Nigeria’s green and white flag, the mostly young protesters chanted songs listing their demands, including the restoration of gas and electricity subsidies that were dropped as part of economic reforms.
The violence and looting was concentrated in Nigeria’s northern states, the worst hit by hunger and insecurity, where dozens of protesters were seen fleeing with looted items including furniture and gallons of cooking oil.
Police Commissioner Egbetokun said officers were “aiming to ensure peaceful conduct,” but he added: “Unfortunately, the events that took place in some major cities today showed that it was not protests that were being instigated, but large-scale rioting and looting.”
The police chief’s claims have been disputed by human rights groups and activists. “Findings so far have made it clear that lethal tactics were deliberately used by security forces at the scene where lives were lost,” Sanwusi said.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Authorities fear the protests, which have been gaining momentum on social media, could become a repeat of deadly demonstrations against police brutality in the West African country in 2020 or lead to a wave of violence similar to chaotic tax hike protests in Kenya last month.
But the threat that emerged as protests turned violent in some areas “did not require that level of response” from police, said Anieti Ewang, a Nigerian researcher at Human Rights Watch.
