NIGERIA'S top union leader said today that police had shot dead ten protesters during unrest in Lagos on the eighth day of a general strike over fuel prices.

Lagos, 1/7/2003

Nigeria police 'kill 10 protesters'
From correspondents in Nigeria
July 8, 2003

NIGERIA'S top union leader said today that police had shot dead ten protesters during unrest in Lagos on the eighth day of a general strike over fuel prices.

"The information we have as of this morning is that police have killed over 10 people in Lagos," strike leader Adams Oshiomhole, president of the Nigeria labour Congrees, told reporters in Abuja.

Rioting broke out across Nigeria's commercial hub today as strikers and street gangs clashed with police at the start of a second week of protests over the price of fuel.

A private television report showed the bodies of three protesters and local NLC leaders said that one protester had been shot and killed at a peaceful march in the city.

A police spokesman was not initially able to comment on the reports.

Strikers set up barricades in many areas of Lagos today and AFP reporters saw police squads firing warning bursts from assault rifles as they deployed to break up demonstrations.

Tear-gas was also fired as riot squad officers tried to dislodge protesters.

Agence France-Presse http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6719099%255E1702,00.html