Posted by AFP on
LAGOS - Police in southern Nigeria arrested three activists of a minority rights group who were protesting against the activities of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, the group's spokesman said.
LAGOS - Police in southern Nigeria arrested three activists of a minority rights group who were protesting against the activities of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, the group's spokesman said.
Alleging that police used teargas "and brutalised many of us (during) a peaceful demonstration in front of Shell offices," Bari Ara-Kpalap said the three arrested remained in detention, "while more than 20 of us were injured."
A police spokeswoman in Port Harcourt, Ireju Barasua, said she had not received word of the incident.
Hundreds of activists of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (Mosop) staged a peaceful protest outside Shell headquarters in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, against alleged "destabilisation, destruction of ecosystem and militarisation of Ogoniland," Ara-Kpalap said.
"We are also protesting against moves by Shell to resume oil activities in Ogoniland without due consultation with interested parties," he added.
Shell was forced to suspend operations in oil-rich Ogoniland more than 10 years ago following bloody unrest and protests against the company.
Mosop's lawyers are making efforts to secure the release of the three activists from a police station in Port Harcourt, Ara-Kpalap said.
Mosop was founded in 1993 to campaign against alleged environmental pollution of the oil-rich Niger Delta by foreign oil companies, especially Shell, which produces more than a third of Nigeria's 2.5 million barrels of crude per day.