Human Rights Watch published a damning 32-page report...

Human Rights Watch published a damning 32-page report into the November 2002 violence, in the northern city of Kaduna, alleging that police and soldiers had shot indiscriminately during a riot which left 220 dead. "The Nigerian government has not brought anyone to justice for these terrible killings," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "Not only did the security forces fail to intervene at the first signs of violence, but... they contributed significantly to the violence by killing and injuring people who were not posing any threat," he said. The Nigerian police's chief spokesman, however, denied the charges. "I disagree with this completely. The police are the people's police and there is no way they would shoot the people," deputy police commissioner Chris Olakpe told AFP. Riots erupted in November 2002 in the religiously-divided city after Muslims launched a protest over an article on the Miss World pageant in a Nigerian newspaper which many deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed. Anger was already running high over the beauty show, which some Muslim leaders had said was offensive and should not have been brought to Nigeria during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Nigerian police and soldiers sent to deal with the unrest were ill-prepared and killed indiscriminately, the group said. "One of the most serious cases described in the report is the November 22 execution of eight men by a group of police and military, led by a member of a local defence force," the statement said. "Eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch how the perpetrators picked out their victims one by one, tied them together, led them to a rubbish dump by a riverside and shot them dead at close range. "When confronted with rioters, the police and soldiers who were deployed often made no attempt to arrest criminal suspects, instead shooting them dead on the spot. The victims included children," it said.