Heavily armed police blocked a group of demonstrators trying to enter the U.S. embassy in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday in a protest against a planned visit by U.S. President George W. Bush, witnesses said. Police reinforcements were called to the embassy as protesters gathered with placards denouncing Bush’s scheduled visit next week as part of an African tour. A spokeswoman for the group, the Concerned Youth Alliance of Nigeria, said Bush’s visit would amount to recognition of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose re-election in April she said was massively rigged. “Police arrived in two trucks and quickly outnumbered the small group,” a Reuters reporter said. “The police blocked the entrance, and an embassy official met the group outside and received their petition.” The protest coincided with the fourth day of a general strike over fuel prices that has crippled the country and threatened to shut oil facilities in the world’s eighth biggest crude exporter. The spreading protest is increasingly turning into generalised opposition to Obasanjo, whose controversial re-election has stoked tensions in Africa’s most populous country. Full Story
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