By Abraham Achirga and Hamza Ibrahim
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigerian police arrested dozens of protesters on Saturday and fired tear gas to disperse those trying to march toward government offices in the capital Abuja, on the third day of demonstrations over the cost of living crisis.
In the northern state of Kano, at least one person was shot in the neck and rushed to hospital, witnesses said.
At least 13 people were killed on Thursday as protests turned violent, Amnesty International said, accusing police of using live ammunition.
Police said Saturday that seven people had been killed in three days of protests, but denied responsibility. Nearly 700 people were arrested during the demonstrations and nine police officers were injured, police added in a statement.
Police tried to confine protesters to the outskirts of major cities to avoid disrupting business and traffic.
On Saturday, protesters gathered at a large stadium in Abuja, but police used tear gas to disperse them as they tried to march on a main road leading to the city centre.
“Many Nigerians are feeling the same pain, so I think they will come out and protest. I will be here until midnight,” protester Julius Chidiebere said before police fired tear gas.
Dozens of protesters were arrested and taken away in police vans, Reuters journalists reported.
Police and military officers have stepped up patrols in Kano state, where some protesters tried to break into a police station near the Kurna and Rijiyar Lemo neighborhoods.
In the commercial hub of Lagos, more than 1,000 protesters gathered peacefully to denounce economic hardships worsened by President Bola Tinubu’s reforms that began last year with the removal of a popular fuel subsidy and the devaluation of the currency, which has driven up inflation.
(Reporting by Abraham Achirga in Abuja and Hamza Ibrahim in Kano, with additional reporting by Seun Sanni in Lagos, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
