Around 200 Nigerians laid siege on the National Highway at Goa after forcibly stopping a Goa Police hearse van that was carrying the body of a Nigerian, murdered the previous night and stopping all traffic on the route.
The subsequent hour-long blockade of the NH-17 on the outskirts of the capital by over 200 African nationals led to frayed tempers between locals and the Africans and a subsequent lathi charge that led to one Nigerian being seriously injured. later, 53 Nigerians were detained for unruly protest.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in a hurriedly called Press conference later assured the rounding up and deportation of all those found overstaying and staying illegally in the State.
“A special drive will be conducted to find all those who are overstaying and they will be deported,” Parrikar promised.
The Congress has meanwhile used the incident as an example to demonstrate how much control the foreigners, who they say are involved in drug pushing, have over the state.
“Those Nigerians involved in crime should be deported immediately. It is quite possible that the whole episode is linked to drug trade. This could be a pre-season message from the underworld to the Government,” Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Subhas Shirodkar said at a Press conference.
Earlier in the day 50 Africans were arrested for rioting, arson and blocking traffic on the NH protesting the murder of a Nigerian national in the wee hours of Thursday.
Over 200 Africans had virtually taken over a patch of road on the highway, while the police remained mute spectators, leading to infuriation of locals who couldn’t stand the blockade of traffic at the behest of foreigners, while the police delayed with a solution.
The Nigerians had stopped a police ambulance carrying the body of the Nigerian national and even dragged the corpse from the van on to the road.