Nigeria police arrest protesters at Lekki toll gate in Lagos

Demonstrators gathered to object to reopening of site where 12 activists were shot last year

Police officers detain a man during a protest against the reopening of the Lekki toll gate in Lagos. Reuters

Nigerian police beat and arrested demonstrators on Saturday at the site in Lagos where activists denouncing police brutality were shot last year.

The protesters were objecting to the reopening of the toll gate in the commercial capital's affluent Lekki district, where human rights groups and witnesses said at least 12 people were killed during a rally on October 20.

The military denied shooting live rounds and the police denied involvement.

There was a heavy presence of armed police officers at the toll gate on Saturday, as a group of about 15 protesters gathered. This was despite calls from the government this week to scrap the demonstration.

At least six protesters were beaten with truncheons, arrested and driven away by police.

"They are already manhandling us, but we're not going to be deterred. We're not going to step down," one man said as he was arrested.

The huge motorway tollgate in Lekki  became the centre of a nationwide protest movement last year, with musicians and celebrities joining rallies there during weeks of demonstrations.

The mostly youth-led #EndSARS protests brought Lagos to a standstill in October.

The protests – named after the police force's Special Anti-Robbery Squad that was accused of abuses – spread even after the unit was disbanded and the government promised reforms.

The demonstrations ended abruptly after the shooting in Lagos.

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.

The Lekki shootings sparked street violence and looting across the country in one of the worst waves of civil unrest since the end of military rule in 1999.