Nigerian police use tear gas during protests over the deaths in custody of 37 miners

MINNA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian police fired tear gas on Friday at crowds who gathered in protest against the deaths of 37 miners being held in custody.

The civil defense corps said the miners, who were arrested earlier this week on suspicion of illegal mining, had died as a result of a suspected disease outbreak. But survivors told The Associated Press that the deaths were due to suffocation.

The protesters claim the miners were killed in retaliation for earlier attacks by some miners on officers. The government suspended the commandant of Niger state’s civil defense corps on Friday.

“It is an unfortunate incident,” Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said in a statement. “However, a full investigation will be conducted while the commandant under whose watch this happened remains suspended.”