BENIN CITY (AFP) – Protesters marching against soaring fuel prices on Monday attacked a mosque in Benin city and wounded several people, leading police to fire tear gas, police and witnesses said.
A mob detached from a group of protesters marching along a main street in Benin city, the capital of Edo state, and raided the mosque located along the same road, an AFP correspondent said.
They hurled rocks at the mosque’s louvres and tried unsuccessfully to set the building on fire. The attackers also looted fans from inside the mosque.
A correspondent saw police take away a man with a machete cut on his head. A Red Cross official said 10 people were wounded during the attack which also targeted a foreign exchange bureau run by Muslims near the mosque.
Police confirmed the attack and said it was staged by “miscreants” who hijacked the main protest, which they described as peaceful.
“There was an attempt to burn the mosque in the city centre. Some people were injured,” state police commissioner Femi Omojola told AFP. He said the injuries were minor.
Tens of thousands demonstrated across the nation on Monday as part of a nationwide strike over soaring petrol prices, which resulted from a government move to end fuel subsidies on January 1.
The mosque attack came at a tense time, with fears of wider religious violence in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer following repeated attacks on Christians blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram.
Source: Vanguard Nigeria
A mob detached from a group of protesters marching along a main street in Benin city, the capital of Edo state, and raided the mosque located along the same road, an AFP correspondent said.
They hurled rocks at the mosque’s louvres and tried unsuccessfully to set the building on fire. The attackers also looted fans from inside the mosque.
A correspondent saw police take away a man with a machete cut on his head. A Red Cross official said 10 people were wounded during the attack which also targeted a foreign exchange bureau run by Muslims near the mosque.
Police confirmed the attack and said it was staged by “miscreants” who hijacked the main protest, which they described as peaceful.
“There was an attempt to burn the mosque in the city centre. Some people were injured,” state police commissioner Femi Omojola told AFP. He said the injuries were minor.
Tens of thousands demonstrated across the nation on Monday as part of a nationwide strike over soaring petrol prices, which resulted from a government move to end fuel subsidies on January 1.
The mosque attack came at a tense time, with fears of wider religious violence in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer following repeated attacks on Christians blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram.
Source: Vanguard Nigeria
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