ABUJA, Nigeria — At least nine people were killed by Nigerian security forces when protesters clashed with police during Mass demonstrations due to the country’s economic crisis.a human rights group said Friday, while authorities said one police officer was killed and several others were injured.
Four more people were killed and 34 wounded Thursday when a bomb exploded in the northeastern state of Borno, authorities said. The State has been devastated by The longest war against militancy in the world.which has left millions displaced and hungry.
More than 300 protesters were arrested and curfews were imposed in five northern states after public and government properties were looted, Nigerian police said.
Police continued to fire tear gas at protesters in several locations as they regrouped on Friday.
National police chief Kayode Egbetokun said on Thursday night that the police are on red alert and may seek help from the army.
Amnesty International’s Nigeria director Isa Sanusi said in an interview that the group independently verified deaths reported by witnesses, victims’ relatives and lawyers.
The protests were mainly due to food shortages and accusations of misgovernance and corruption in Africa’s most populous country. Nigerian civil servants are among the highest paid in Africaa stark contrast in a country that has some of the poorest and hungriest people in the world despite being one of the continent’s top oil producers.
Carrying banners, bells and Nigeria’s green and white flag, the mostly young protesters chanted songs as they listed their demands, including the reinstatement of gas and electricity subsidies that were canceled as part of an economic reform effort. .
The violence and looting was concentrated in Nigeria’s northern states, which are among the worst affected by hunger and insecurity. Dozens of protesters were seen running with looted goods, including furniture and gallons of cooking oil.
Egbetokun, the police chief, said officers were “aimed at ensuring peaceful conduct.” But he added “unfortunately, events today in some major cities demonstrated that what was being instigated was a mass uprising and looting, not a protest.”
The police chief’s claim was questioned by human rights groups and activists.
“Our findings so far show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill,” Sanusi said.
Authorities feared that the protests, which have been gaining momentum on social media, could be a repeat of the Deadly 2020 protests against police brutality in this West African nation, or as a wave of violence similar to the chaotic one last month Protests over tax increases in Kenya.
However, the threats that emerged when protests turned violent in some places “did not require that level of response” from police officers, said Anietie Ewang, a Nigerian researcher at Human Rights Watch.
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