Nigeria Urges Calm After Migrant Death in Greece

Nigeria´s top diplomat in Greece urged his countrymen on Wednesday to remain calm after the death of a Nigerian migrant.

 Nigeria's top diplomat in Greece urged his countrymen on Wednesday to remain calm after the death of a Nigerian migrant in northern Greece triggered three days of violent protests.

Tony Onuoha, a 25-year-old Nigerian who was legally in Greece, died on Saturday after falling off a first floor cafe balcony in the city of Thessaloniki, following a chase by two men which his family and friends say were undercover police.

He had been selling pirated CDs and DVDs in the cafes and restaurants of the seaside Kalamaria suburb.

Hundreds of Nigerians and anti-racism activists, as well as self-styled anarchists, clashed with police in the city for the third day on Tuesday as anger over his death boiled over.

Cars and shop windows were shattered and police, which used teargas to disperse the crowd, arrested more than 20 people.

"I want to contact my fellow countrymen and appeal for calm," Nigerian Embassy charge d'affaires Mohammed Sani Dole told reporters after meeting Greece's police chief in Athens.

"We all want peace. The chief of police assured me of the detailed ongoing investigation and the efforts to locate the two men involved in the incident," he said.

Police have denied any involvement, saying no officers were on duty to look for forged CDs at the time of Onuoha's death.

They said anarchists and other fringe groups were exploiting Onuoha's death by joining the rallies and attacking police.

Coroners who examined the body on Tuesday said there were no signs of a struggle and the man died from severe head injuries after hitting the concrete pavement.

Onuoha's friends, family and their lawyer though insist the men involved in the chase were undercover police.

"He told the men 'leave me, leave me, leave me' and then he fell. They had told him before 'police stop'," the victim's brother James said earlier this week.

Thousands of Nigerian migrants across Greece sell pirated CDs to carve out a living and police have started cracking down on them in the past year.