Nigeria Police fire shots at peaceful protesters in Lagos

Dozens of armed police officers have attempted to disperse a crowd protesting the abduction of secondary school girls in Chibok, Borno state.

Gunshots were fired by the officers in an attempt to break the protest but the protesters stood their ground.

Some of those who heard the shots first thought it was just teargas, but our reporter and other witnesses who arrived the scene shortly after the shots were fired did not notice any fume to indicate it was teargas.

Some witnesses however say teargas canisters were fired too.

There is no report of injury to any of the protesters yet.

The crowd are also protesting the hike in the school fees of the Lagos State University, Ojo.

Several fully armed police officers have now joined the protesters as they march from CMS bus stop in Lagos Island towards Victoria Island.

It is unclear yet whether more gunshots or teargas canisters would be fired at them.

Scores of Nigerian women, and a few men, had also protested Wednesday in Abuja to demand the release of over 200 girls kidnapped on April 14 by insurgents believed to be members of the extremist Boko Haram sect.

The girls were kidnapped from the their hostel at the Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State.

The protest began at about 3:15 p.m. at the Unity Fountain in the Abuja city centre, with many of the women wearing red to demonstrate  anger and outrage at the abduction of the girls.

The women, including some mothers from the troubled Chibok community, carried banners and placards demanding that the Nigerian government do more to free the girls.

Details of the Lagos protest later…