More Than 100 Reported Killed As Riots Spread Across Nigeria

The violent clashes have already killed at least 105 people, according to Nigerian Red Cross officials.

The week’s violence is the latest in a string of bloody religious and ethnic clashes in Nigeria that have left thousands dead and the country’s economy stagnant due to security concerns and a tangled internal infrastructure.

The city of Kaduna is not new to religious clashes. Two years ago, a massive wave of Christian-Muslim violence resulted from opposition to the introduction of strict Islamic Sharia law in the state. The bloody clashes left an estimated 2,000 people dead.

The contentious relations between the Muslim majority and an assertive Christian minority, particularly in the Muslim-dominated north, have been exacerbated by a large number of unemployed youth that appear to use the outbursts of violence as opportunities to loot local businesses.

Rioting began Wednesday when the Kaduna office of ThisDay newspaper was set ablaze to protest an article on the Miss World beauty pageant scheduled to take place in Abuja on Dec. 7. The article questioned whether the Prophet Muhammad would have chosen a wife from one of the pageant’s beauty queens — a suggestion that sparked long-running Muslim objections to Nigeria’s hosting of an event protestors say promotes promiscuity and indecency.

Muslim leaders, who had warned for months of protests against the Miss World pageant, also objected to the scheduling of preparations for the pageant during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

ThisDay quickly printed a retraction and an apology for the article, saying it went out in error.

“We are sorry that the portrayal of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (SAW) in a commentary written by one of our staff was not only unjustified, but utterly provocative,” the newspaper said Friday in an editorial entitled “An Apology to All Muslims.”

The violent backlash against the newspaper quickly escalated to street rioting, with angry mobs reportedly stabbing or setting on fire bystanders believed to be Christian. At least four churches have been destroyed by fire, as neighborhoods dominated by Christians became targets of the Muslim youths.

Mobs of Christian youths were reported to be retaliating in Kaduna Friday, amid reports of occasional gunfire as well as fires set in mosques.

“Two of my sons were killed at home today. They were taken away from my house by police and soldiers. They were killed and their bodies burnt,” Bello Mijinyawa, a Muslim resident, told Reuters.

A 24-hour curfew was implemented by authorities, but went widely ignored when Muslim protestors accused officials of using the curfew as a means to prevent them from going to their mosques to attend Friday prayers.

Red Cross officials told news services that more than 500 people had been injured by Thursday night and that some 3,000 had been displaced as residents seek protection at police stations and military bases.

As word of the protests spread, violence erupted in the capital city of Abuja when hundreds of Muslims stampeded through the streets after Friday prayers at the city’s main mosque, according to news reports.

Muslims and Christians alike, armed with sticks and knives, were reported to be burning cars and attacking pedestrians near the capital city’s plush international hotel center.

The Nigerian government has appealed for calm and has tried to soothe Muslim anger by promising that those responsible for the article would be legally prosecuted for “exceeding the bounds of responsible journalism by making a provocative publication on the Holy Prophet.”

In light of the violent protests, Miss World organizers decided late Friday to move the pageant from Abuja to London. The event is still scheduled for Dec. 7.

“This decision was taken after careful consideration of all the issues involved and in the overall interests of Nigeria and the contestants participating in this year’s edition,” the pageant’s organizers said in a statement.