Nigerian Army soldiers fired into a march of about 1,000 Islamic Shiite activists who had blocked traffic outside of the capital, Abuja. Videos online showed several protesters throwing rocks at heavily armed soldiers, who then shot fleeing demonstrators in the back.
The army’s official Twitter account posted a video in response to the backlash, “Please Watch and Make Your Deductions,” showing Trump’s speech in which he said rocks would be considered firearms if thrown toward the American military at the nation’s borders.
“We’re not going to put up with that,” Trump said in the video clip. “They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back.”
As a result of the shootings, Amnesty International and leaders of the protest say more than 40 people were killed between three marches, with more than 100 people wounded by bullets.
CNN reported that Trump recounted his previous statement that the US would shoot at any rock-throwing migrants crossing into the US. “They do that with us, they’re going to be arrested. There’s going to be a problem. I didn’t say shoot,” he said.
#DonaldTrump is fairly popular amongst groups in Nigeria’s mostly Christian south that admire his “tough talk” against Islamic extremism. Despite his insult last year when he said Nigerians in the United States would never “go back to their huts” in Africa, many Nigerians praise what they call his “straightforwardness and frank talk.”
According to the New York Times, John Agim, a spokesman for the Nigerian Army, said the initial reason for the video was as a response to #AmnestyInternational, which criticized what they called the military’s use of excessive force.
“We released that video to say if President Trump can say that rocks are as good as a rifle, who is Amnesty International?” he said. “What are they then saying? What did David use to kill Goliath? So a stone is a weapon.”
