Police in Nigeria fired tear gas at dozens of people who gathered Friday to protest the deaths of 37 miners while they were in custody.
Niger State Gov. Mohammed Umaru Bago said on Thursday that the miners, who were arrested earlier in the week on suspicion of illegal mining by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, died in custody. The civil defense corps said they died as a result of a suspected disease outbreak, but survivors told The Associated Press that the miners died of suffocation.
