NIGERIANS protesting against police brutality continued to defy a government curfew today after soldiers fatally opened fire on peaceful protesters in Lagos on Tuesday night.

Amnesty International said it had “credible but disturbing evidence of excessive use of force occasioning deaths of protesters at Lekki toll gate,” where witnesses said up to 12 people were killed and others wounded.

Eyewitnesses described scenes of “pandemonium” in the wealthy suburb’s toll-gate plaza as soldiers advanced and fired upon peaceful protesters at random. 

Lagos state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said that an investigation had been ordered but denied that any deaths had occurred in the “unfortunate shooting incident.”

Gboyega Akosile, a spokesman for the governor’s office, sought to blame provocateurs for the killings.

“There have been reports of shooting at the Lekki Toll Plaza, following the 24-hour curfew imposed on Lagos state to stop criminals who hid under the End Sars protests to unleash mayhem on innocent citizens,” he said.

Protests have swept the country over the past two weeks, demanding political reform and justice for those killed by the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) — a notorious police unit accused of murder and extortion.