Posted on 02/22/2006 4:58:06 PM PST by blam
Riots in Nigeria leave many dead
Police have struggled to keep a lid on the violence
At least 20 people are believed to have died in a second day of violence in the southern Nigerian city of Onitsha. Groups of armed youths rampaged through the city attacking Muslims, in apparent retaliation for the deaths of Christians in riots in the north.
Eyewitnesses spoke of streets "littered with bodies" as thousands of Muslims were said to be fleeing the city.
Danish cartoon protests in the north led to sectarian clashes which have seen dozens of deaths in four cities.
On Wednesday, groups of Christian Ibo men wielding clubs and machetes rampaged through Onitsha for a second day attacking any members of the Muslim Hausa community they could find, according to witnesses.
Dragged out
One eyewitness said cars driving into the town had been stopped by angry crowds demanding to know if there were any Hausa on board.
Those who were identified were dragged out and taken away.
Onitsha resident Isotonu Achor said he had seen more than 20 people killed.
"Major streets are littered with bodies of people killed today, most of them northerners," he told the Associated Press.
A photographer for Reuters news agency said some the victims had been burnt and some had had their stomachs cut open.
The BBC's Sola Odunfa said when he tried to enter the city, he was confronted by a 200 armed men demanding proof that he was not Hausa.
But he said the violence was "not a question of Christian or Muslim".
"They are just targeting people from the north in anger," he told the BBC's Newshour programme.
The authorities say many Hausas still in the city have sought shelter inside police and army facilities.
Thousands have fled the town, reports said.
Police say they have sent reinforcements into Onitsha, which has been sealed off, and the Anambra state authorities have imposed a curfew on the town.
It is not clear how many people died when the riots began on Tuesday, but reports suggested at least a dozen fatalities, possible more.
There are also reports that the violence has spread to neighbouring towns.
Ethnic tensions
Earlier on Tuesday, the authorities in Bauchi in northern Nigerian imposed a curfew after at least 13 people were killed in a sectarian riot.
The Bauchi riot followed violence over the weekend in the two northern towns of Maiduguri and Katsina, which began as demonstrations against the Danish cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.
Nigeria, roughly divided into a mainly Muslim north and Christian south, has been hit by sectarian violence in the past.
More than 10,000 people died in communal violence across the country in the first few years following Nigeria's return to democratic rule in 1999, but in recent months these clashes have become less frequent.
While I don't condone this happening, I'm not going to lose any sleep over this news either.
Haha, Right.
You bet your ass the BBC will MAKE IT FRONT PAGE NEWS because this time its christians doing the killing.
Is this to make sure they kill any child a pregnant mother is carrying (as has been witnessed in other conflicts, in south America, across Africa, etc)? Repulsive.
If I were King, I'd have Nigeria be a nice peaceful and friendly place.
But this is the real world and the Islamic demographic of Nigeria is getting
meaner and deadlier.
While I'd rather not see vigilante, revenge-style street killings...
that may just be just about the only way to make it clear to the Nigeria Muslims
that they won't drive the Christians into the sea.
I should care? Muslims oppress anybody they can and attack anybody they can't oppress. When somebody has enough of it and hits the Muslims back it's big news. We haven't hit 'em hard enough yet.
The only way to end the Muslim threat is to hit them so hard they don't dare raise a hand against us again. We will have to do to the Muslim world as was done to Japan and Germany in WWII. Otherwise our children and grandchildren will be fighting this war.
It is within our power to end it sooner rather than later, and we should.
Forgive them, Father; for they know not what they do...but don't stop them for a few days.
Christians could be the most kind and friendly amongst religions in the world but be warned muzzies, when we had enough of your oppression... we will fight back, and we're unstoppable...
This must be the reason I have not heard back from my Nigerian friend I sent a $5,000 earnest money check to last month, and why he has failed to make the $3 million dollar deposit in my checking account.
Nigeria is a big country, lots of people. There is the religious element, but it appears the problem is tribal, although tribes of 30 million each stretches the idea of tribe a little.
I hope my beautiful white model girlfriends who were recently trapped in Nigeria after vacationing there aren't caught up in this. I just paid their hotel bill so that they could come straight here and live with me.
I agree with you 110%.
The enemy is islam!
The Christians wouldn't have done this if the Muslims hadn't given them the cause to do it.
For years Muslims have been slaughtering Christians. Just look at the Sudan.
That's going to offend somebody. Oh well. No tolerance for the intolerant is sound policy.
It sounds as though it's just as much a tribal thing as a religious thing.
I know you care. There are many innocents on both sides. The sooner it is ended the fewer lives will be lost. If we wait it will approach hell on earth before it is over.
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