At least 13 dead in Nigeria hardship protests – rights group

At least 13 people died during protests over economic hardship in Nigeria on Thursday, according to rights group Amnesty International, which accused security forces of killing peaceful demonstrators.

Conflicting accounts emerged on the number of deaths a day after thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities across Nigeria to demonstrate against government policies and the high cost of living.

At least five states remained under curfew with a heavy police presence on Friday, while security forces in the capital Abuja fired tear gas at small groups of protesters who came out for a second day of rallies, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

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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 #EndbadGovernanceinNigeria, 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, a loose coalition of civil society groups, have vowed to press ahead with rallies in the coming days despite warnings from the authorities.

– ‘Red alert’ –

In a statement on X on Friday, Amnesty International said security forces killed six people in Suleja near the capital, four in the northeastern city Maiduguri and three in Kaduna in the northwest the previous day.

“Our findings, so far, show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill while dealing with gatherings of people protesting hunger and deep poverty,” Amnesty said.

Police in Maiduguri said four people died in explosions, without providing details.

On Thursday, the national police chief rejected claims that officers had attacked peaceful protesters.

In a statement on X, Inspector General Kayode Egbetokun said he had “placed all units on red alert” to respond to “further threats to public safety and order.”

Nigerians are struggling with high costs — food inflation is at 40 percent and fuel is triple the price from a year ago — but many people were also wary about insecurity around protests.

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There was calm in the northern city Kano on Friday, which saw intense clashes between police and protesters the previous day. Officials imposed a curfew in the state, as well as in the northern states Yobe, Katsina, Borno and Jigawa.

In Nigeria’s economic hub, Lagos, a few dozen protesters gathered in the Ojota area on Friday.

Around 1,000 people marched peacefully in the mainland area on Thursday, chanting “Tinubu Ole”, using the Yoruba language word for thief.

Nigeria’s protests come after Kenyan President William Ruto was forced to repeal new taxes and name a new cabinet following weeks of anti-government protests in the worst crisis in his almost two years in office.

© Agence France-Presse