Nigeria police tear gas women in air crash protest

LAGOS - Nigerian police threw tear gas and arrested women staging a peaceful rally to protest poor air safety after a plane crash last week in which about 50 of the 106 killed were children.

About 200 mothers wearing black gathered in an upmarket area of Lagos to deliver a letter of protest to the government when riot police surrounded them, witnesses said.

"We told them we were concerned mothers of Nigeria and we insisted on walking to government house, but they blocked the road and threw tear gas in front of us and behind us. Everyone scattered," said Bola Belgore, who was one of 17 women subsequently arrested.

She said the group held the rally in solidarity with the mothers of the victims of the plane crash and had written to the police to request protection.

"We didn't think there could be any objection by anyone," Belgore said.

Having earlier denied that tear gas was used against the women, the police said they had apologised.

"Maybe the tear gas ought not to have been used and that is why I have apologised," said Inspector-General Sunday Ehindero, adding that the rally was illegal.

The Dec. 10 crash of a 32-year-old DC-9 aircraft operated by Sosoliso Airlines was Nigeria's second major air tragedy in as many months.

The plane crashed at the Port Harcourt airport and burst into flames during a storm. Among the 106 people on board were 50 school children from the Loyola Jesuit College in Abuja on their way home for the Christmas break.

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash.

President Olusegun Obasanjo grounded Sosoliso and another privately owned airline on Tuesday and ordered an emergency audit of all aircraft in the oil exporting country, accusing the industry of corruption.

Belgore said the rescue effort after Saturday's crash was also flawed, and exposed the dire state of emergency services in Africa's most populous country.

- REUTERS