At a charity drive in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, 31 people were killed as a result of oppression on Saturday. The cause was a stampede that, according to Nigerian media and international news agencies, had started at the entrance to the site where the event was held. At least seven people have been injured.
The drama took place at an annual Kings Assembly church charity day. At that event, called ‘Shop for Free’, poor residents of the southern port city could receive free food and supplies. On photos from the previous edition of Shop for Free are people to see with full shopping bags, a microwave and a cot.
Saturday the charity event was set to start at 9am – due to the expected crowds, not in the Kings Assembly church building, but on the grounds of a polo club. Hours before opening time, groups of people gathered at the gate of the polo ground, a police spokesman told the press. Some managed to break open the gate. “Then people poured in and there was a stampede,” said the spokesperson†
Distribution campaigns such as the one in Port Harcourt are regularly organized in Nigeria. The country may have the largest economy in Africa, yet it is alive about 40 percent of the more than 216 million Nigerians living in poverty.