DEMONSTRATORS GATHER OUTSIDE THE BELGIAN OFFICE FOR FOREIGNERS, 1998-09-24 (photo)

Demonstrators gather outside the Belgian Office for Foreigners in central Brussels during a protest September 24 against the death last night of a young Nigerian refugee after an attempt to expell her from Belgium. Adamu, 20, who fled Nigeria last March saying she was trying to escape a forced marriage to a 65-year-old man, died last night in hospital after losing consciousness earlier in the day while she was being restrained by gendarmes during an expulsion attempt. The gendarmes, who also filmed the expulsion attempt aboard a Sabena passenger plane, pressed a small pillow against Adamu's mouth in an attempt to calm her down after she started shouting. The death of Adamu sparked an outcry of public anger and calls for Belgian Interior Minister Louis Tobback to resign. The banner reads "Belgium, country of asylum some suffocate so that others can breathe there". BEN/BLA/SB