Students In Nigeria Are Being Detained For Allegedly Waving Russian Flags During A Demonstration

Authorities in Nigeria and Poland announced on Wednesday that Nigerian security forces had detained seven Polish nationals, including six students and a lecturer, for allegedly flying Russian flags during demonstrations against the country’s economic woes.

At a meeting of diplomats hosted by Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry in the country’s capital, Abuja, Peter Afunanya, a spokesman for the Nigerian secret service, said that the Poles had been arrested on Monday in the northern state of Kano “because of where they were found during the protests and for displaying foreign flags.”

Afunanya refrained from mentioning if the detained Poles were involved in the protests at the time of their arrest, and no proof of their participation was shown during the conference.

The University of Warsaw stated that those seized were students and a lecturer who were in Nigeria as part of a study trip that the university had arranged, according to the Polish national news agency PAP.

The students, according to Andrzej Szejna, the deputy foreign minister of Poland, “found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Szejna stated that although the Poles were not holding any flags, “it seems they were taking photos and this had been interpreted in this way.”