Six killed in Nigeria fuel protests

At least six people have been killed in Nigeria during mass protests over elimination of a fuel subsidy which has sparked a general strike across the country. Chidi Odinkalu, the head of Nigeria's Human Rights Commission, said on Monday that police shot dead three people in the country's commercial capital Lagos. Another two were killed in Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city, where a nine-year boy was trampled to death underfoot in the crowd, Odinkalu added. “My understanding is that the nine-year-old appears to have been trampled in what looks like a stampede in Kano," he said. Police also injured dozens of people in the northern city of Kano where protesters clashed with security forces. In the capital Abuja, Kano, Lagos, and other cities, tens of thousands of people protested against the removal of the subsidy, which has doubled fuel prices in Nigeria. Fuel and transport prices doubled after the government ended the subsidy on January 1, infuriating the people in the oil-rich country. President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the subsidy on oil is unsustainable for the country. The government says it will use USD 8 billion in savings to make much-needed infrastructure improvements. Some protesters were carrying placards showing President Jonathan as devil while others shouted "Bad luck Jonathan, Bad luck Jonathan". "Our leaders are not concerned about Nigerians. They are concerned about themselves," said a protester. In a country of 160 million people, activists have already launched a protest movement called “Occupy Nigeria,” inspired by the anti- corporatism protests in the United States, dubbed Occupy Wall Street. Labor unions have promised to continue the strike until the government lowers fuel prices.