WGNNews.org
Posted 8:03 P.M. CST : November 21 , 2002
Nov 21, 5:54 PM (ET)
50 Killed Over Miss World Article
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Angry mobs stabbed and set fire to
bystanders Thursday in rioting that erupted after a newspaper
suggested Islam's founding prophet would have approved of the
Miss World beauty pageant. At least 50 people were killed and
200 injured.
The violent demonstrators in the northern city of Kaduna
burned churches and rampaged through the streets until hundreds
of soldiers were deployed to restore calm and enforce a
dusk-to-dawn curfew
"A lot of people died. We don't know yet exactly how many
... more than 50," said Emmanuel Ijewere, the president of the
Nigerian Red Cross.
Muslim groups say the pageant promotes sexual promiscuity and
indecency
Shehu Sani of the Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress said
he watched a crowd stab one young man, then force a tire filled
with gasoline around his neck and burn him alive. Sani said he
saw three other bodies elsewhere in the city.
Alsa Hassan, founder of another human rights group, Alsa
Care, said he saw a commuter being dragged out of his car and
beaten to death by protesters.
