MINNA, Nigeria — Police in central Nigeria fired tear gas Friday at crowds who gathered to protest the deaths of 37 miners while in custody on illegal mining charges, with activists disputing the official line that they may have died of a disease outbreak. The deaths are under investigation. The civil defence corps said the miners, who were arrested earlier this week on suspicion of mining illegally, had died as a result of a suspected illness and that their bodies were sent to a hospital for examination. However, survivors told The Associated Press the detainees were packed in a poorly ventilated cell and suggested the victims died of suffocation. The protesters claimed the miners were killed in retaliation for earlier attacks by some miners on officers. The government suspended the commandant of Niger state’s civil defence corps on Friday. “It is an unfortunate incident,” Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said in a statement. “However, a full investigation will be conducted while the commandant under whose watch this happened remains suspended.” The state government imposed a 12-hour curfew starting from 6 p.m. on Friday following attacks by some of the protesters on other residents. Dozens of young people, including miners and their relatives, gathered near the civil defence corps’ office in Minna, the capital of Niger state. Police cordoned off the area and attempted to disperse the protesters by firing tear gas canisters. “There will be no attempt to shield anyone found culpable. At the same time, we mustn’t prejudge the outcome of the investigation,” Minister of Information Mohammed Idris said. Illegal mining is a serious problem in Nigeria, where analysts say it funds activities of armed groups, some of whom control the mines.
