Buildings have been set aflame and there are reports of gunfire in Nigeria’s biggest city after demonstrators were shot at a protest.
Rights group Amnesty International said at least 12 people were killed by soldiers and police in Lagos on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s army dismissed the reports as “fake news” in a post on Twitter.
Authorities have imposed an indefinite round-the-clock curfew on the city and elsewhere, but some defied the order.
Protests against a police unit have been taking place for two weeks. Demonstrators have been using the social media hashtag #EndSars to rally crowds against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars).
President Muhammadu Buhari disbanded Sars on 11 October. But protests have continued, with demands for more changes in the security forces, as well as reforms to the way the country is run.
Witnesses have told the BBC what they saw when men in military camouflage opened fire on Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday, buildings were set alight across Lagos and police put up roadblocks. A major Nigerian TV station with links to a ruling party politician was on fire after people attacked it with petrol bombs.
Police in different districts of the city fired shots in the air to disperse protesters defying the curfew, the BBC’s Nduka Orjinmo reports from the capital, Abuja. He also reports that the palace of the most senior traditional leader in the city was looted, though the leader had been evacuated beforehand.
What happened in Lagos?
Witnesses said uniformed men opened fire on a crowd of around 1,000 demonstrators in the wealthy Lekki suburb on Tuesday.
Soldiers were seen barricading the protest site moments before the shooting, BBC Nigeria correspondent Mayeni Jones reports. Social media footage streamed live from the scene shows protesters tending to the wounded.
A witness who did not want to be named told BBC News that shortly before 19:00 local time (18:00 GMT) soldiers “pulled up… and they started firing directly” at peaceful protesters.
“They were firing and they were advancing straight at us. It was chaos. Somebody got hit straight beside me and he died on the spot,” he said.
The protesters had gathered at the Lekki toll gate for the last two weeks to block cars from using the road.
Shortly before a curfew was due to start, officers turned up and began to kettle in the demonstrators. The street lights were then shut off before the shooting began.
In a statement, Amnesty International Nigeria said at least 12 protesters were killed in Lagos on Tuesday.
Evidence from hospital records and witnesses showed “the Nigerian military opened fire on thousands of people who were peacefully calling for good governance and an end to police brutality” at Lekki toll gate, the organisation said.
Apart from the shooting in Lekki, at least two people were killed and one “critically injured” in the Alausa district by “a team of soldiers and policemen” at about 20:00, the group added.
“Soldiers clearly had one intention – to kill without consequences,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International Nigeria country director.
Source
BBC
