More than eleven people were killed on Tuesday night at the Lekki toll gate as Nigerian soldiers opened fire at a key protest site in Lagos, witnesses said.
This comes as the government sought to end two weeks of marches against police brutality that have mushroomed into broader nationwide demonstrations.
Three witnesses, gathered among hundreds of protesters at Lagos’ Lekki toll gate, said that pickup trucks arrived shortly after nightfall and soldiers began to fire tear gas and then bullets into the crowd.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many people had been killed, but each of the witnesses said they saw several bodies on the road, with some saying more than eleven had been killed.
Videos posted on social media showed screaming protesters surrounding bloodied corpses, visible through a haze of yellow tear-gas smoke.
“The Nigerian government sent the army to come and kill us,” said Akinbosola Adeyemi, a talk-show host who ran five-eights of a mile to safety. “A lot of people were hit. You are not meant to shoot live firearms against us.”
