WARRI (Nigeria): Eleven people were killed when Nigerian security forces cracked down on a demonstration supporting the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, a separatist group said on Friday, though police denied there were any deaths.

The demonstration was organised in southern Rivers state by the Indigenous People of Biafra, whose members want Trump to support the creation of an independent Biafran state for the Igbo people.

Ugochukwu Chinweuba, a member of the group, said police and soldiers used live rounds and that “scores” were wounded in addition to the dead.

Nnamdi Omoni, a spokesman for Rivers state police, said the claim was false and that police only used tear gas.

“To the best of my knowledge, there was no casualty as the police merely employed minimal action, which involved the use of tear gas to disperse protesters,” he said.

Neither of the competing accounts could be independently verified.

Published in Dawn January 21st, 2017