A group of students’ trip to Nigeria was organized by the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the University of Warsaw. The students and their lecturer left for Africa on August 1. PAP found out that they planned to return to Poland in early September.
– Immediately after receiving information about this incident, the rector of the University of Warsaw ordered extensive measures to clarify the issue, release the students and support their families, Anna Modzelewska, a spokeswoman for the University of Wisconsin, told PAP on Wednesday.
She added that on behalf of the university president, university chancellor Robert Gray contacted the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Consular Services.
Going out at night is a violation of the law.
– Information is being collected about the students’ whereabouts and the allegations against them. It was determined that leaving their place of residence at night was considered by the local police to be a violation of local law. Modzelewska said that the authorities of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, where the detained students study, are involved in activities to help the students.
She added that activities are still ongoing with the Polish consul remaining on site to release the detainees. – The release of the UW students is our priority. “We must do everything in our power to achieve this as quickly as possible,” wrote the rector of the University of Warsaw, Alojze Nowak, in a letter to the media.
The university authorities and the Faculty of Oriental Studies are in constant contact with the students’ families. “We keep the students’ families informed of all arrangements,” Modzelewska said.
“They took pictures and put them in the hotel.”
Reuters reported on Wednesday that seven Poles were arrested by Nigerian authorities during anti-government demonstrations that took place in recent days in the northern state of Kano, according to a security forces spokesman.
Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Sejna told PAP in an interview that it was a group of students “who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They did not carry any flags (as reported by Reuters – PAP), but they apparently took pictures and it was interpreted as such. They are staying in a hotel, the Polish consular services are trying to free them, they are in contact with the Nigerian authorities and the families of the students.
Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters quoted the Polish consul to Nigeria, Stanislaw Golinski, who was at a meeting of Nigeria’s foreign minister with foreign diplomats in the country’s capital, Abuja, as saying: “They were arrested two days ago in Kano and the last time I heard they were on a flight from Kano to Abuja.” Golinski declined to comment further to Reuters.
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