Nigeria detains students for allegedly displaying Russian flags during protest
Nigerian security forces have detained seven Polish nations, including six students and a lecturer, for allegedly displaying Russian flags during protests against economic hardship in the West African nation, Nigerian and Polish authorities said Wednesday.
The Poles were arrested Monday in the northern Kano state “because of where they were found during the protests and for displaying foreign flags,” said Peter Afunanya, a spokesman for the Nigeria secret service, at a meeting of diplomats hosted by Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry in the capital, Abuja.
Afunanya did not say if the Poles being detained were participating in the protests when they were arrested, nor was there any evidence of their involvement presented at the meeting.
According to the Polish state news agency PAP, the University of Warsaw confirmed those detained were students and a lecturer who were in Nigeria for a study trip organized by the university.
The students “found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna told PAP. The Poles were not carrying any flags, Szejna said, but added, “It seems they were taking photos and this had been interpreted in this way.”
