University name change sparks violent protest in Nigeria

The Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria - Police in Nigeria's largest city have used tear gas to try to disperse a crowd of several hundred university students angry at the president's decision to change the name of their school.

The protest began peacefully Friday at the University of Lagos. But students then surrounded an armoured police truck and beat on it. Police fired tear gas and students responded with a barrage of thrown stones.

They were protesting a decision Tuesday by President Goodluck Jonathan to change the name of the city's flagship university. Jonathan said the University of Lagos — known as UNILAG — would be renamed Moshood Abiola University in honour of a political prisoner who died in jail over a decade ago.