Nigerian police crack down on protests as rights group says 13 killed

ABUJA: Nigerian police fired shots in the air to break up protests in the capital Abuja on Friday as rights group Amnesty International accused security forces of killing at least 13 demonstrators during nationwide rallies against economic hardship.

Curfews were in place across several northern states and there was a heavy security presence on the second day of the demonstrations.

An AFP photographer saw police in Abuja firing rifle shots over the heads of protesters in the city centre, while security forces scattered hundreds of protesters using tear gas.

“We were ruthlessly dispersed, but I think that it only made us more resolute,” said 29-year-old activist Damilare Adenola, leader of the Take It Back group organising protests in Abuja.

“Hunger is the greatest motivation of this protest — that is why we are calling for the end of bad governance.”

The turnout was lower than on Thursday, when thousands took to the streets in cities across the country calling for the government to reduce fuel prices and tackle Nigeria’s worst economic crisis in a generation.

Africa’s most populous country is battling high inflation and a tumbling naira after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ended a fuel subsidy and liberalised the currency more than a year ago in reforms the government says will improve the economy in the long term.

Dubbed #Endbad Governancein Nigeria, the protest movement won support with an online campaign, but officials had warned against attempts to follow the same path as recent violent demonstrations in Kenya, where protesters forced the government to abandon new taxes.

Nigerian protest leaders have vowed to press ahead with rallies in the coming days despite warnings from the authorities.

Police said they had made hundreds of arrests across the country including 269 people they accused of “destruction, looting, and instigating chaos” in the northern city Kano on Thursday.

Anietie Ewang, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said she was concerned by “reports of excessive use of force by Nigerian security forces” and urged the authorities to listen to protesters.