Nigerian police to treat protesters who attack banks, ATMs as robbers

Nigerian police on Friday said some citizens frustrated by cash shortages in the country were attacking banks and vandalising cash-dispensing machines, and warned that they would be treated as armed robbers.
Ahead of an election to choose a new president and lawmakers next week, frustration is rising in Africa’s most populous nation over a central bank plan to swap old naira bank notes for new ones, which has caused shortages of cash, disrupting trade.
On Friday angry customers in Lagos and other states in the south of the country attacked banks and burned tyres on the streets to protest failure to access their money, local television showed.
Nigeria Police Force national spokesperson Olumuyiwa Adejobi such actions would elicit a strong response from law enforcement agents and those caught should not claim that their rights were being violated.