Miss World riots | |
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Location | Kaduna, Kaduna State Abuja, FCT Lagos, Lagos State |
Date | 20 – 23 November 2002 |
Attack type | Rioting, manslaughter, pillage |
Deaths | c. 250[1][2] |
Injured | 300+[3] |
Perpetrators | Islamists, later rioting Christians and Muslims |
Motive | Revenge for supposed insult of Muhammad, later (also) avenging killed fellow believers |
The Miss World riots were a series of religiously motivated riots in the Nigerian city of Kaduna in November 2002, resulting in the deaths of more than 200 people. The Miss World beauty pageant, which was controversial in Nigeria, was relocated to London after bloody clashes between Muslims and Christians, caused by what some Muslims deemed to be a "blasphemous" article in the Christian newspaper ThisDay about the event. The Miss World riots were part of the Sharia conflict in Nigeria, that started in 1999 when several predominantly Islamic states in Northern Nigeria decided to introduce Sharia law.