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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ― A Nigerian villager who was wounded when he was shot by Nigerian soldiers at the end of a takeover of a Chevron oil platform 10 years ago told a federal jury in San Francisco on Wednesday the protest was intended to be peaceful.

Larry Bowoto, 45, testified that elders of his Ilaje tribe instructed tribal members who were sent to the offshore platform that "the protest shall be a peaceful one and there shall be no fighting."

Bowoto said the more than 100 villagers were unarmed and spent time singing, praying and talking to workers during their first three days on a Chevron Corp. oil-drilling platform, construction barge and tugboat nine miles off the Nigerian coast in May 1998.

The protesters say they were demonstrating against environmental harm caused by the oil drilling and seeking jobs.

The demonstration came to a violent end on the fourth day when Nigerian military forces summoned by Chevron's Nigerian subsidiary arrived by helicopter and killed two protesters and wounded several others.

Bowoto, who was shot several times, testified on the second day of a trial of a human rights lawsuit filed by 19 protesters or surviving relatives against San Ramon-based Chevron Corp. for alleged wrongful death, injury and torture.

In addition to Bowoto, the plaintiffs include another man who was allegedly wounded and the widows and children of two deceased protesters, including one killed on the barge and another who died three years later and was allegedly tortured in a Nigerian prison after the incident.

Chevron has contended that the takeover was a "hostile, illegal invasion," that workers were threatened and that the company had a duty to summon the Nigerian navy to protect the workers.

The oil company has also maintained it didn't expect or want the incident to end violently and that it is not responsible for the actions of Nigerian soldiers and jailers.

Bowoto's testimony Wednesday afternoon didn't reach the moment of the arrival of Nigerian security forces on May 28, 1998, but he is expected to begin with that when the trial resumes in the court of U.S. District Judge Susan Illston on Thursday morning.

Bowoto, a former fisherman who now sells spare parts for outboard motors, was dressed in clothing of Nigerian fabric and spoke through an Ilaje interpreter. He said he speaks pidgin English.

Bowoto broke briefly into English as he sang to the nine-member civil jury a song that he said the demonstrators chanted as they approached the platform and during the three-day takeover. The song was based on the Beatles' "Give Peace a Chance."

Bowoto sang to the jurors, "All we are saying is give us our rights. All we are saying is give us our jobs."

Earlier on Wednesday, a worker on the construction barge testified that the floor of the barge was "full of blood" after the Nigerian security forces landed and began shooting.

Johnson Boyo, a helipad landing technician, testified that after three or four helicopters carrying the soldiers landed, he ran to his cabin while hearing gunshots. He said that after the shooting ended, he came out and saw two protesters lying dead on a floor "full of blood."

Boyo also said he also saw a wounded youth with "blood gushing out" and saw soldiers beating another youth with the butts of their guns.

He said he did not see any guns or knives on the dead bodies and did not see any weapons on the protesters earlier in the takeover.

Chevron will present its evidence in the second half of the trial, which is expected to last five weeks.

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