Two persons were reportedly killed in Benin City as protesters defied the 24-hour curfew and engaged policemen at Santana Market along Sapele road in a free for all.
It was a battle of wits as police tried to disperse the protesters who in turn put up stiff resistance with people scampering between Santana and The Limit junction.
The protesters reportedly burnt Customs outpost at Ekiadolor near Benin.
Soldiers and anti-riot policemen and men of the state correctional centres have been deployed to major roads and streets to forestall law and order and enforce the curfew imposed.
Meanwhile, the government, yesterday, insisted that the 24-hour (round-the-clock) curfew imposed on Monday subsists and active till further notice.
Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, in a statement in Benin, urged parents and guardians to restrain their children, wards and youths from flouting the order, as security agencies would not spare any errant individual.
“Everyone is expected to remain indoors. Security agencies have been deployed in the streets to ensure full compliance and anyone found contravening the directive will be dealt with according to the law.”
Notwithstanding the curfew, urchins and youths in Benin, yesterday, mounted road blocks at distant locations away from areas where security was mounted by soldiers and other security agencies.
But security was beefed up at strategic locations and government buildings such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) building and other banks located along Akpakpava road and the two correctional centres on Sapele road, Airport Road and other areas.
Police Aerial Monitoring team went round the city even as commercial vehicles and others trooped out for brisk business before 4 pm enforcement of the curfew.