Nigeria: Garages blocked in fuel-hike row

Angry mobs of protesters stopped garage owners from selling fuel today while others lit a bonfire on a major highway in an attempt to thwart the Nigerian government’s removal of a cherished consumer subsidy which had kept petrol affordable for more than two decades.

A rapidly growing group of protesters was going from garage to garage, telling owners not to sell petrol at the inflated price of about $3.50 a gallon. That is more than double what consumers paid only days ago for the fuel desperately needed to power the generators that keep many businesses running.