Darren. You said in a post to another poster....." from all accounts (except yours) the riots were started by the moslems ".....
It appears there are those in the Nigerian Gov. who agree with you.
“After prayers they came from the mosque like warmongers, chanting their ‘Allalu Akbar’ song They started smashing cars,”
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ThisDay Editor arrested as protests spread.
Saturday, November 23, 2002
THE Editor of THISDAY on Saturday, Mr. Simon Kolawole, was arrested yesterday in Abuja by the State Security Services (SSS) as rioting sparked by Muslim anger over a newspaper article on Miss World Beauty Pageant yesterday spread to Abuja and to new areas of Kaduna, already scene of 100 deaths. Kolawole was asked to report at the SSS headquarters in connection with last Saturday's cover story on Miss World Beauty Pageant portions of which were considered offensive to Muslims. Mr. Kolawole has since been taken to unknown destination and could not be reached at press time. Miss Isioma Daniel, the news paper's style reporter, has also been asked to report at the SSS office in Abuja.
Police swiftly dispersed the Abuja protests, but as a strict 6 pm curfew began in Kaduna, a Red Cross spokesman warned that the death toll was expected to increase as clashes between Muslims and Christians had shifted to four new areas. Report from the city spoke of thousands of civilians fleeing streets littered with corpses in order to seek shelter from the fighting in police barracks. In Abuja, incensed Muslims stormed out of the national mosque after Friday prayers and set fire to cars, including at least one police vehicle, witnesses said. Paramilitary police dispersed the protesters with the use of teargas and made several arrests.
“After prayers they came from the mosque like warmongers, chanting their ‘Allalu Akbar’ song They started smashing cars,” an Abuja market trader said at the scene. On Wednesday, Muslim youths burned down ThisDay office in Kaduna to protest a “blasphemous” article against prophet Mohammed. The pageant is due to take place in Abuja on December 7 and the presence of 90 young women contestants in the country during the holy month of ramadan has offended many Muslims. “The security situation in Kaduna is extremely unstable,” Nigerian Red Cross spokesman Patrick Bawa said. “We have been told the situation is spreading to other parts of the city and the state outside Kaduna.” Residents said fighting had broken out in the south of the city, from where smoke could be seen rising.
Shehu Sani, head of Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress, said: “The situation has further aggravated, there have been more burnings of churches and mosques. Initially the attacks were mostly by Muslims, but now Christians are retaliating.” Many of the corpses in the streets of Kaduna appeared to have been shot before being burned. Witnesses said that police had shot demonstrators and that others were killed in clashes. “We are close to the police barracks, but still these boys had the courage to attack us.”
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