NIGERIA: Scores of people were injured in a stampede in the Nigerian capital of Abuja yesterday after troops fired live rounds and tear-gas into the air to disperse strikers demonstrating against massive fuel price increases.
Violent protests, until now confined to the inland capital and the coastal commercial hub of Lagos, spread to south-eastern and northern cities on the third day of the walkout.
In the south-eastern oil city of Port Harcourt, riot police used tear-gas and fired live rounds in the air when some 3,000 protesting university and high school students occupied a major street, witnesses said. No casualties were reported.
Nearby in Aba, demonstrators lit bonfires on major streets and chased motorists off the roads, residents said.
The Abuja episode followed attempts by militants from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to force traders in a city-centre market to obey the union's stay-at-home order. Police were unable to disperse the NLC protesters and troops were called to restore order.
NLC militants stepped up their picketing in Abuja after talks to end the walkout adjourned on Tuesday night without agreement. A rescheduled session faced delays yesterday.
The strike, which was called to protest against President Olusegun Obasanjo's increase of over 50 per cent in fuel prices, has crippled the world's eighth-largest oil exporter. Nigeria exports over two million barrels per day of crude.
Analysts say overwhelming support for the walkout despite the mounting hardships it has caused indicates Nigerians are in fact protesting at what they see as misrule under Mr Obasanjo. Mr Obasanjo, who wants to end subsidies on imported oil products of some $2 billion a year, raised petrol prices on June 20th by over 50 per cent, pushing up the price to 40 naira a litre from 26 (about 20 US cents).