Police clash with Nigerians protesting against economic hardship

Nigeria's police have fired shots and tear gas to break up protests against economic hardship amid a soaring cost-of-living crisis in the African country.

Nigerian security forces on Thursday fired tear gas in cities like Lagos, Kano, and the capital Abuja to break up the rallies.

Police fired shots in the air and tear gas to break up crowds of protesters angry about soaring inflation and a sharply devalued currency.

Protesters, rallying against the high costs of living nationwide, poured onto the streets carrying placards, bells and Nigeria's green-and-white flag.

They chanted songs as they listed their demands, including the reinstatement of gas and electricity subsidies whose removal as part of the government’s audacious reforms to grow the economy has had a knock-on effect on the price of just about everything else.

The mostly young protesters took to streets in the northern city of Kano, and the capital Abuja as thousands joined rallies across the country. Protestors were met with heavy security presence on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria's largest city.

In Kano, the country's second-largest city, protesters set fire to tires outside the state governor's office and police responded with tear gas, forcing most of the demonstrators back, AFP reported.

Protesters later torched and ransacked a digital center of the Nigeria Communications Commission near the Kano governor's office and police fired shots in the air to disperse pockets of looters, an AFP reporter said.

Police reported areas of looting and arson in the city and arrested 13 people. At a press conference, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf later imposed a 24-hour curfew in Kano.

Officials in northern Yobe and Borno states also imposed 24-hour curfews.

In Abuja, security forces blocked off roads leading to Eagle Square -- one of the planned protest sites -- and fired tear gas and set up barbed wire fencing to prevent several hundred protesters from reaching the park.

Security forces also fired tear gas to disperse crowds in Mararaba on the outskirts of the capital, an AFP reporter said.

Around 1,000 people marched peacefully in the mainland area of the economic capital Lagos, where they chanted "Tinubu Ole", using the Yoruba language word for thief.

Meanwhile, food inflation is at 40 percent and fuel is triple the price from a year ago.

"We are hungry -- even the police are hungry, the army are hungry," said Jite Omoze, a 38-year-old factory worker.

"I have two children and a wife, but I can't feed them anymore," he said, calling for the government to reduce fuel prices.

Despite being one of the continent’s top oil producers, Africa's most populous country is reportedly struggling to feed some of the world’s poorest and hungriest people.Also, Nigeria’s public officials, who are repeatedly accused of corruption, are said to be among the best paid employees in Africa.

"We are not going to stop until every Nigerian can live comfortably in Nigeria", one protester said to AP.

"It’s not over," said Damilare Adenola, 29, activist and leader of Take It Back group in Abuja. "If the crowd disperses today, we are coming tomorrow."

Meanwhile, armed security forces were deployed to main cities overnight after days of mobilization by rally organizers for anti-government protests.

Some groups also staged protests in support of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu as many businesses are fearful that the protests could be a replay of the deadly 2020 demonstrations against police brutality in the nation — or a wave of violence similar to last month’s protests in Kenya, where a tax hike led to chaos in the capital, Nairobi.

Tinubu, himself a former business guru, ended a costly fuel subsidy and liberalized the currency more than a year ago to improve the economy. However, the move also unleashed inflation and devalued the naira.

On the eve of the protests, government officials had asked the youth to avoid the rallies and allow time for Tinubu's reforms to take hold and improve the economy.

The reforms introduced by Tinubu are aimed to revive the country's economy.

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