[originaltext] Police fired tear gas and bullets to the air Monday to dispers

Police fired tear gas and bullets to the air Monday to disperse protesters in Nigeria’s main city Lagos who chanted anti-government slogans while burning tires in the street. In the capital Abuja, police clashed with union pickets who were preventing civil servants from entering their offices. Indefinite strike was called by the Nigerian Labor Congress to protest against the government’s decision to slash subsidies on fuel prices. The subsidies cut has increased the price of fuel by more than 50%. The government’s reelected president Olusegun Obasanjo says the savings are needed for health care and education. Union leaders say they want President Obasanjo to make a reasonable offer to reduce the scale of the price rise. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer but it still faces chronic fuel shortages because most of the oil is shipped abroad.