Nigeria arrests seven Polish nationals for raising Russian flags at protests

By Ope Adetayo

ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria has arrested seven Polish nationals for raising Russian flags during anti-government protests this week in the northern state of Kano, Peter Afunanya, a spokesperson for the state security service, said on Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have been protesting since Aug. 1 against President Bola Tinubu's painful economic reforms that have seen a partial end to petrol and electricity subsidies, currency devaluation and inflation touching three-decade highs.

The protests which turned deadly in at least six northern states have seen 22 people killed so far during demonstrations, Amnesty International said, with more protesters killed in Kano, the rights group said.

This week, some protesters waved Russian flags during protests in northern states, underscoring concerns about increased Russian activity in western Africa. Security services detained some of the tailors they said had made the banners.

Afunanya said the Poles were detained during efforts by the Department of State Services to enforce security. He gave no details as to who they were, but said the operations were not targeting Polish citizens.

Stanislaw Gulinski, a Polish consul to Nigeria, confirmed the arrests at a meeting between Nigeria's foreign minister and diplomats in the capital, Abuja.

"They were arrested two days ago in Kano and last I heard, they were on the plane to Abuja from Kano," he said.

Gulinski declined to comment further when approached by Reuters.

"The Abuja (diplomatic post) was informed about the arrest of a group of Polish students and a lecturer in Kano, northern Nigeria," the Polish foreign ministry wrote on social media platform X.

"The consular service is establishing the exact circumstances of the incident with the local authorities in order to support our citizens. The ministry of foreign affairs remains in contact with the families of those detained."

Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has called the brandishing of a foreign flag during anti-government protests as a "treasonable offence" after he held security talks with President Bola Tinubu on Monday.

In the northern states of Borno, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina, protesters were seen waving hundreds of Russian flags, with some calling for a military takeover.

The Russian embassy in Nigeria denied any involvement.

(Reporting by Ope Adetayo; Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Sharon Singleton, Peter Graff)