Police attend as people protest against the economic hardship, on the street in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, Aug 2, 2024.
The ongoing demonstration against the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, brought protesters in direct clash with Lagos residents over the weekend.
Carrying placards, bells and Nigeria’s green-and-white flag, the protesters were met with a heavy security presence on the streets of Lagos.
The protests are mainly over food shortages and accusations of misgovernment and corruption in Africa’s most populous country.
Nigeria’s public officials are among the best paid in Africa, a stark contrast in a country that has some of the world’s poorest and hungriest people despite being one of the continent’s top oil producers.
a protester to the press: “The purchasing power of my salary has been completely eroded”.
The mostly young protesters chanted songs as they listed their demands, including the reinstatement of fuel and electricity subsidies that were cancelled as part of an economic reform effort.
Violence and looting are so far, concentrated in Nigeria’s northern states, which are among the hardest hit by hunger and insecurity.
Amnesty International’s Nigeria office said at least nine people were killed by security forces in Nigeria during mass protests against the economic crisis gripping the country.
Authorities said a police officer was also killed and others injured, while four protesters were killed by a bomb.
Hundreds were arrested in the protests that triggered curfews in some States.
