Nigerian police fire tear gas, protester injured in Lagos floating slum protests

LAGOS, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Nigerian police fired tear gas to disperse residents protesting in Lagos on Wednesday over demolition work in one of Africa’s largest floating slums that has displaced thousands of people, with one protester reportedly injured.

Lagos state officials, with the help of armed police and excavators, have been demolishing homes in the Makoko slum on the edge of the commercial capital, arguing that residents illegally built their houses – mostly wooden shacks built on stilts above the water – near high-voltage power lines.

On Wednesday, more than 1,000 angry residents and affected families marched to the Lagos State House of Assembly to express their outrage over the demolitions.

The demonstrators refused a police order to disperse and instead demanded to be addressed by the Lagos state governor, whose office is nearby.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the gathering. One person sustained a leg injury and was taken to hospital.

“We were tear-gassed at Alausa. Look at this person, he left his house and now he has become disabled,” protester Yawo Gburo said, referring to the injured demonstrator.

Lagos police did not immediately comment.

Makoko, which is home to thousands of mostly poor Nigerians, began life as a fishing village more than 100 years ago. There is no official data on its population, with estimates ranging between 80,000 and 200,000 residents, according to nonprofit groups.

The megacity of Lagos, with an estimated population of more than 20 million, has suffered from a serious shortage of housing, leading to the development of many informal and illegal settlements.

(Reporting by Kazeem Sanni and Sodiq and Adelakun, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Hugh Lawson)