KANO  (AFP) – Hundreds of protesters shut down petrol stations in the northern Wednesday and a mob threatened to burn a newspaper office amid volatile demonstrations over soaring fuel prices.

Placard-waving protesters in Kano headed toward the state governor’s office when dozens of armed police and soldiers blocked them using trucks and vans, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

The protesters then gathered on the city centre’s main square, known as the Silver Jubilee Square but which protesters renamed “Liberation Square.”

Businesses around the square pulled down their shutters fearing violence and four filling stations overlooking the square were forced to close after they were besieged by the protesters.

“This is a peaceful demonstration to show our total rejection of the fuel subsidy withdrawal,” said protest organiser Baffa Abdurrahman.

A mob also threatened to burn down the office of the Daily Trust newspaper — whose coverage the protestors perceived as supportive of the government’s move — but police blocked them.

They smashed the windshield of a newspaper van and beat a security guard, leaving him wounded.

“They came in hundreds with the intent to set ablaze our office. The early response of policemen saved the situation,” said Awwan Umar, Kano bureau chief for the newspaper.

The government in Africa’s largest oil producer ended fuel subsidies on January 1, sparking widespread opposition and protests in parts of the country including the capital Abuja and the commercial hub of Lagos.

Protests in Kwara state claimed at least one life on Tuesday, while in Lagos one man claimed he was shot by police who also fired teargas at mobs setting bonfires along a main highway.

The removal of fuel subsidies has caused petrol prices to more than double in a country where most people live on less than $2 per day.