Nigerian police beat, arrest protesters at site of Lekki shootings - witnesses

By Angela Ukomadu and Seun Sanni
LAGOS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Nigerian police beat and arrested
demonstrators on Saturday as a small group protested over the
reopening of the site where activists denouncing police
brutality were shot last year in the commercial capital, Lagos,
Reuters witnesses said.
Rights group Amnesty International and witnesses have said
soldiers opened fire on protesters on Oct. 20, killing at least
12 people at a toll gate in the city's affluent Lekki district
and another area. The military has denied shooting live rounds
and the police have denied involvement. There was a heavy presence of armed police officers on
Saturday at the toll gate, where a group of about 15 protesters
gathered despite calls by the government this week to scrap the
demonstration, Reuters witnesses said.
At least six of the protesters were beaten with truncheons
and arrested before being driven away in police vans.
"They are already manhandling us, but we're not going to be
deterred. We're not going to step down," said one man, who did
not provide his name and spoke to Reuters as he was being
arrested.
A Lagos state police spokesman said in a text message he was
unaware of the arrests but would look into accusations that
activists had been manhandled.
Nigeria's information minister warned activists earlier this
week to drop plans for the protest, saying it risked being
"hijacked by hoodlums". On Friday, one of the two youth members of a Lagos state
panel investigating the October shootings resigned, citing
"undue intimidation of peaceful protesters" and the panel's vote
to reopen the toll gate - a source of revenue for the state
government - before the probe had been finished. Thousands of Nigerians calling for police reforms staged
largely peaceful protests nationwide for about two weeks in
October, but the Lekki shootings sparked street violence and
looting across the country.
The wave of civil unrest was one of the worst since the end
of military rule in 1999.