Lagos, Nov 25: The Northern Nigerian city of Kaduna was peaceful overnight, officials and residents said today, as riots fuelled by opposition to the Miss World pageant came to an end.
"It's been quiet since yesterday," said Maktar Sirajo, spokesman for Kaduna state's governor. "Many arrests have been made. The people will be brought to court today."
Kaduna's assistant police commissioner for operations Samuel Ogunbayode confirmed that no trouble occurred overnight and that around 300 suspected rioters were in custody.
Yesterday, the Nigerian Red Cross reported that more than 200 people had been killed, some 1,215 injured and 11,500 driven from their homes during the fighting.
Rioting broke out between Kaduna's Muslim and Christian communities on Thursday after longstanding tensions were brought to the boil by controversy over the contest.
A Nigerian daily had dismissed Muslim opposition to the holding of the pageant in Nigeria, joking that the prophet Mohammed would probably have wanted to marry one of the contestants.
Muslim youths attacked the paper's offices, then went on to assault Christian areas. Christian gangs counter-attacked, and three nights of violence wracked the city.
On Saturday, amid a storm of negative publicity, Miss World's organisers abandoned plans to hold the pageant's grand finale in Nigeria and moved the December 7 event to London.
Regis Bouffartigue, the French manager of Kaduna's Kronenburg brewery -- which on Saturday served as a refuge for hundreds of terrified residents -- said all was now calm.
Bureau Report
