Protesters 'shot dead' in Nigeria's biggest city
A number of people getting involved in a protest against police brutality have reportedly been shot dead or injured in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos.
A witness told the BBC he had counted about 20 bodies and at least 50 injured after soldiers opened fire. Amnesty International said it had obtained credible reports of deaths.
The authorities have promised a study into the shooting.
An indefinite 24-hour curfew has been imposed on Lagos and other regions.
Protests over a now-disbanded police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars), have already been continuing for 14 days.
Reacting to the shootings in Lagos, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and the army "to stop killing young #EndSARS protesters".
Nigerian footballer Odion Jude Ighalo, who plays for Manchester United, accused the Nigerian government of killing its own citizens. "I'm ashamed of the government," he said in a video posted on Twitter.
What do we realize about the shooting?
Eyewitnesses spoke of uniformed men opening fire in the wealthy Lekki suburb of Lagos on Tuesday evening.
Armed soldiers were seen barricading the protest site occasions prior to the shooting, BBC Nigeria correspondent Nayeni Jones reports.
Social media footage streamed live from the scene shows protesters maintaining the wounded.
An unnamed eyewitness told BBC News: "At accurately 6.45pm [local time] the soldiers pulled up... and they started firing directly at we, the calm protesters.
"They were firing plus they were advancing straight at us. It had been chaos. Somebody got hit straight beside me and he died at that moment.
"It was pandemonium plus they kept on shooting and shooting at us. It lasted for about an hour . 5 and the soldiers were actually taking on the dead bodies."
He said the soldiers had built a barricade and ambulances cannot reach the protest area.
Four witnesses told Reuters news agency soldiers had opened fire on demonstrators. One of these, Alfred Ononugbo, 55, said: "They started firing ammunition toward the crowd. These were firing into the crowd. I saw the bullet hit a couple of persons."
In a tweet, Amnesty International Nigeria said it had "received credible but disturbing evidence of excessive make use of force occasioning deaths of protesters at Lekki toll gate in Lagos".
Amnesty International spokesman Isa Sanusi later said: "Individuals were killed at the tollgate by security forces... we will work on verifying just how many."
How have the authorities reacted?
Gboyega Akosile, a spokesman for the Lagos state governor, tweeted: "There have been reports of shooting at the Lekki Toll Plaza, following the 24-hour curfew imposed on Lagos State to avoid criminals who hid beneath the #EndSARS protests to unleash mayhem on innocent citizens."
He said the state authorities had ordered an "investigation into the incident".
Approached by Reuters for comment, a Nigerian army spokesman didn't immediately respond.
