KANO, May 19: Authorities in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Wednesday lifted a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed last week after Muslim anger led to a violence in which at least 36 Christians were killed.

The curfew was lifted following the "return of normalcy to Kano after the spill over of the Yelwa-Shendam skirmishes," government spokesman Sule Ya'u Sule said in a statement.

Muslim mobs went on the rampage in Kano last week to avenge a May 2 massacre of at least 200 Muslims by a Christian ethnic militia in the market town of Yelwa in Plateau State, central Nigeria.

Muslim youths took to the streets of the sprawling commercial city, looted businesses and killed at least 36 suspected Christians, according to official figures. Christian leaders claim that hundreds died.

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday wrote to Kano's authorities to warn them that his government would no longer tolerate any violent protests in the state or any part of the country.

STATE OF EMERGENCY: Nigeria's upper and lower parliamentary houses on Wednesday gave its backing to an order from President Olusegun Obasanjo declaring a state of emergency in the strife-torn central state of Plateau. Senators voted by 90 votes to five to ratify the decree, which suspended Plateau's elected governor, Joshua Dariye. -AFP