Strike Over Fuel Prices Shutters Much of Nigeria

Police fired warning shots and tear gas Monday to break up crowds of demonstrators as a paralyzing general strike over fuel prices took hold across this oil-rich country.

Stores and offices in Lagos, the sprawling commercial capital of sub-Saharan Africa’s most populous nation, were barricaded for fear of looting. International and domestic flights ran hours late or not at all after air traffic controllers joined the protest.

Unionists vowed to push the general strike into a second day today.

Strike leaders held talks Monday with President Olusegun Obasanjo at his presidential villa in Abuja late into the night, seemingly to no avail.

Government offices and businesses in the capital, Abuja, the northern cities of Kano and Kaduna and the southeastern oil city of Port Harcourt all closed down Monday.

In pamphlets, the striking Nigeria Labor Congress urged the public to ransack businesses that opened during the strike: “Fast-food joints, all markets, shops and stores ... are offering their commodities free. Enter and pick your choice.”

Labor Congress leader Adams Oshiomole said the strike would continue indefinitely despite a ruling by a Lagos court Friday declaring such action illegal.

Riot police fired tear gas at hundreds of civil servants blocking the entrance to a group of federal government offices in Abuja.

In the Lagos working-class neighborhoods of Yaba, Ikeja and Surulere, police lobbed tear gas canisters and fired into the air to disperse chanting union members and thugs who burned tires and other debris on rubbish-strewn streets.

The protest comes after the government raised prices on gasoline, kerosene and diesel by more than 50% on June 20. Officials said the hikes were necessary to end shortages and curb smuggling. With the increase, gasoline is $1.18 a gallon.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil exporter and the fifth-largest source of U.S. imports. Union leaders say low fuel prices have been among the only benefits for the impoverished population.