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Africans protest in Guangzhou after Nigerian feared killed fleeing visa check

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A Nigerian is believed to have fallen to his death in Guangzhou yesterday trying to escape a police visa check. His apparent death triggered an unprecedented protest by up to 200 angry Africans, who surrounded a police station.

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The protesters carried Emmanul Egisimba to Kuangquan police station to demand an explanation. Witnesses said the clothes trader suffered fatal injuries when he leapt from the second floor of a building.

At least six witnesses confirmed to the South China Morning Post that the man had died, and the Post was shown video of him falling and of the man motionless on the ground with blood pouring from his head. However, last night city police claimed there had not been a death.

After Mr Egisimba was taken to a nearby hospital by members of the crowd, the protesters blocked the entrance to the police station and stopped traffic on Guangyuan Xi Road.

Most of the protesters were Nigerians. Some 100 security guards and police - some in riot gear - guarded the police station, but there were no clashes and by about 6pm, four hours after the man's fall, the crowd began leaving and the road reopened.

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A Nigerian who would only give his first name, James, said six plain-clothes police officers had gone to the Tangqi Foreign Trade Clothes Plaza in central Guangzhou to check visas at 2pm.

Mr Egisimba and another Nigerian man, surnamed Ndubuisi, began to run and were chased by police. The witness said the two were cornered on the second floor, which is 18 metres above the ground. 'Then they had to jump off the building to avoid being caught,' James said.

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