Nigeria gas price protest turns violent in Lagos

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LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — An angry mob protesting spiraling fuel prices assaulted a soldier Tuesday while police shot another man at the demonstration, a sign of growing unrest over the government's hugely unpopular decision to end a subsidy program that had kept gas costs down for more than two decades.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the protest had started with activists wielding signs and walking down a major expressway, but before long angry protesters lit bonfires and vandalized at least three gas stations. A wounded man later ran along the road shouting: "The police shot me, take me to hospital!"

The Nigerian government's quiet announcement over the long holiday weekend that the popular subsidy was being ended already has led to organizing in major cities across Africa's most populous nation of 160 million.

Nigeria's government says it will use $8 billion in savings to make much-needed infrastructure improvements. But union leader Oladipo Fashina has described the move as "immoral and politically suicidal" and he has urged Nigerians to resist "with everything they have."

Previous attempts to even tamper with the subsidy have been met with nationwide protests.

On Tuesday, a rapidly growing group of protesters were going from gas station to station, telling owners not to sell gas at the spiked prices of about $3.50 a gallon (94 cents per liter).

That is more than double what consumers paid only days ago for the fuel desperately needed to power the generators that keep many businesses running in Nigeria, where the national electricity supply can be described as sporadic at best.

Tags: oil, updates, energy, world, gas