Shoot anti-police rioters on sight, law enforcers told

The head of Nigeria's police force, Tafa Balogun, on Friday ordered police officers to shoot on sight any rioters who attempt to burn or otherwise destroy their barracks. Balogun’s directive was in response to two recent incidents in which police barracks were burnt down by rioters. Last week an angry mob burnt down a police station at Ikorodu town, 40 km north of Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, after policemen allegedly shot and killed two people due to a misunderstanding. A few days earlier another mob had sacked a police station at Damaturu town in the northeastern state of Yobe. "Whenever there is a crisis, our barracks and stations are always vandalised or burnt," Balogun said while addressing policemen in the capital, Abuja. "This ugly phenomenon gives me headache." "Your duty is to defend your barracks against mob action," he added. "Shoot and kill whenever they want to attack your barracks ... All I want to hear is that as they were trying to burn a police station or barracks that no fewer than a certain number, say 45, were killed in the process." Several police stations across Nigeria have been attacked and sacked in recent years by local people or militia groups either to avenge alleged extra-judicial killings by police or to protest against perceived police inaction against armed robbers.