Demonstrators shout slogans and hold a banner as they protest against a more than 50 percent rise in petrol prices

ABUJA, Nigeria, June 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Large numbers of Nigerian workers stayed at home or joined street demonstrations Monday, June 30, as trade unions launched an indefinite nationwide general strike in protest at a massive fuel price hike.

Police in the capital Abuja fired teargas at noisy but peaceful protesters who had gathered in front of government buildings to hear labor leader Adams Oshiomhole give an impromptu speech from the roof of his car, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

In Lagos, police fired teargas at youths who built barricades and bonfires on some streets, but there were no initial reports of serious violence.

Protests in the capital Abuja centered at first on the Federal Secretariat building, the administrative headquarters of the nation, where strikers used cars to block the main gates.

Police dispersed the crowd with teargas and briefly arrested two journalists covering the protest, including an AFP reporter. Later the crowd gathered again to cheer Oshiomhole and was again tear-gassed.

Trade unionists protested peacefully amid a large police presence in the southwestern city of Ibadan and streets of the northern city of Kano, a hotbed of opposition to the Obasanjo government, were empty.

Meanwhile, across the country the normally teeming markets stood empty, many banks and offices remained closed and the chronic gridlock that plagues Nigerian cities lifted as buses and taxis stayed off the road.

The oil multinationals responsible for producing Nigeria's sole valuable export, crude oil, claimed that production had remained unaffected, however, despite union claims to the contrary.

"Comrades, if we don't fight today, tomorrow will not be free. Maintain the peace, but don't go to work," Oshiomhole urged a crowd of a few hundred civil servants outside the main federal government building.

Seconds later, as the head of the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), was preparing to drive away, police fired teargas into the cheering crowd, sending them scattering for cover.

Earlier this month Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered that the government stop subsidizing petrol, diesel and kerosene and brought the retail price of petrol up from 26 to 40 naira (31 cents) per liter.

'Unconstitutional'

The president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, which supports the strike, told AFP the price rise was "unconstitutional, wicked and malicious."

"Over 90 percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line, there is a high level of hunger and strife," Daniel Onjeh said, arguing that the government had backed the desperate poor into a corner.

"It's as good as death. Why should we fear dying?" he asked.

Despite being Africa's largest exporter of crude oil, Nigeria suffers from crippling shortages of refined petroleum products such as petrol, and major cities have been snarled by petrol queues for months.

The government claims it spends 250 billion naira ($1.95 billion/1.7 billion euros) a year subsidizing the state oil firm to keep prices down.

In raising the price cap it hopes to encourage the private sector to step up distribution and generate funds to refurbish Nigeria's decrepit oil refineries.

Obasanjo has vowed to spend the money saved by dropping the subsidy on improving education and health services.

But the unions, and public opinion more generally, distrust the promises.

Last January the NLC launched a similar national walk-out in protest at a 20 percent price hike, but the protest petered out after two days.