2012017
AFP
Nigerian police blocked protesters from marching to the capital's main parade ground on Friday as part of demonstrations over soaring fuel prices which have sparked nationwide outrage.

About 40 protesters sought to march to Eagle Square in Abuja when police blocked the road and prevented them, an AFP correspondent reported.

The police move was the latest attempt to stop increasingly volatile protests over the removal of fuel subsidies on January 1, which caused petrol prices to more than double.

"We want to go Eagle Square but they are preventing us," said Azeenarh Mohammed, a spokeswoman for the protesters in Abuja.

"They asked us why we did not tell them ahead of time and we told them that the Supreme Court has overruled that -- that we don't need a police permit to stage a protest."

Police spokesman Jimoh Moshood said he was unaware of the move to block the protesters.

Police fired tear gas to disperse a protest in Abuja on Monday and were accused of shooting dead a demonstrator on Tuesday in Kwara state, which authorities denied, saying a mob killed him.

On Thursday, protesters in Nigeria's main northern city of Kano said police fired tear gas and beat demonstrators, though authorities denied the claims.

Rights group Amnesty International has called on Nigerian authorities to end what it called excessive use of force against protesters.

Nationwide strikes are planned for next week.

Economists and government officials in Africa's largest oil producer view removing the subsidy as essential to allow for more spending on the country's woefully inadequate infrastructure and to ease pressure on its foreign reserves.

The government says more than $8 billion was spent in 2011 on fuel subsidies.

Nigerians however see the subsidy as their only benefit from the nation's oil wealth, and years of deeply rooted corruption have resulted in profound distrust of government officials.