黑料社区

JOS, Nigeria: Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the central city of Makurdi on Sunday, as anger mounted over the killing of dozens of people by gunmen in a nearby town.
Gunmen attacked the village of Yelewata on Friday night in a region that has seen a surge in violence amid clashes between Muslim Fulani herders and mostly Christian farmers competing for land and resources.
Police fired tear gas to break up a protest by thousands of people, witnesses said, as demonstrators called on the state鈥檚 governor to act swiftly to halt the cycle of violence.
鈥淭he protesters were given specific time by the security to make their peaceful protest and disperse,鈥� Tersoo Kula, spokesperson for Benue state鈥檚 governor, told AFP.
John Shiaondo, a local journalist, said he was covering the 鈥減eaceful protest鈥� when the police moved in and started firing tear gas.
鈥淢any people ran away for fear of injuries, and I also left the scene for my safety,鈥� he told AFP.
Joseph Hir, who took part in the protest, said people were protesting the killings in Benue when the police intervened.
鈥淲e are not abusing anyone, we are also not tampering with anybody鈥檚 property, we are discharging our rights to peacefully protest the unabated killings of our people, and now the police are shooting tear gas at us,鈥� he told AFP.

Benue state governor Hyacinth Alia told a news conference late Sunday that the death toll had reached 59 in Yelewata, though residents said the toll could exceed 100.
鈥淲e will move very quickly to set up a five-man panel... to enable us find out who the culprits are, to know who the sponsors are and to identify the victims and to see how justice will be applied,鈥� Alia said.
Amnesty International put the death toll at more than 100.
The rights group called the attack 鈥渉orrifying,鈥� saying it 鈥渟hows the security measures (the) government claims to be implementing in the state are not working.鈥�
Pope Leo XIV also condemned the killings, in comments during his Sunday prayer in Rome, calling it a 鈥渢errible massacre鈥� in which mostly displaced civilians were murdered with 鈥渆xtreme cruelty.鈥�
He said 鈥渞ural Christian communities鈥� in Benue were victims of incessant violence.
Authorities typically blame such attacks on Fulani herders but the latter say they are targets of violence and land seizures too.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said in a statement Sunday night he had 鈥渄irected the security agencies to act decisively and arrest perpetrators of these evil acts on all sides of the conflict and prosecute them.
鈥淧olitical and community leaders in Benue State must act responsibly and avoid inflammatory utterances that could further increase tensions and killings,鈥� he said.
Governor Alia said earlier that 鈥渢actical teams had begun arriving from the federal government and security reinforcements are being deployed in vulnerable areas.鈥�
鈥淭he state鈥檚 joint operational units are also being reinforced, and the government will not let up its efforts to defend the lives and property of all residents,鈥� he said.
Attacks in the region, part of what is known as the central belt of Nigeria, are often motivated by religious or ethnic differences.
Two weeks ago, gunmen killed 25 people in two attacks in Benue state.
More than 150 people were killed in massacres across Plateau and Benue states in April.