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The museum had been meant to officially open on Tuesday. After Sunday’s incident, the museum asked the public to postpone plans to visit until the situation is clarified.
Protesters in Nigeria have disrupted this week’s opening of a major museum of West African art, where local disputes over the world-renowned Benin Bronzes have already kept them from being put on display.
Videos circulating online show more than a dozen young people on Sunday evening rushing the grounds of the multi-million-dollar Museum of West African Art in Benin City, the seat of a famous pre-colonial empire.
The demonstrators asserted that the museum’s opening is a violation of Benin City’s cultural heritage, which falls under the authority of its traditional ruler. They chanted in support of that ruler, the Oba of Benin. Guests including foreigners were whisked away from Sunday’s soft opening. No one was reported hurt.
The museum had been meant to officially open on Tuesday. After Sunday’s incident, the museum asked the public to postpone plans to visit until the situation is clarified.
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The museum did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. Nigeria’s federal government said it was monitoring the situation in Benin City with “deep concern.”
