A Year After The #EndSARS protest and Aftermath of Police Brutality
#EndSARS Protest; One year after the Nigerian youth, in collaboration with celebrities, gathered to protest bad governance and police brutality across the country’s major cities.
The demonstration started with a campaign to abolish the Nigerian police department’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which was established to combat armed robbery and other similar crimes.
The #EndSARS Protest was the largest gathering of Nigerian youth since the country’s independence.
The protest was crowded to draw international attention from social media to the streets, with the hashtag # EndSARS being used.
When some hoodlums took over the demonstration after the Nigerian military reportedly murdered demonstrators at the renowned Lekki toll gate in the Ikeja district of Lagos state in southwest Nigeria, the protesters wreaked havoc.
There is no exact figure for the number of persons killed since the military is still debating whether or not live rounds were used at the protesters.
However, an Amnesty International investigation showed that at least 12 people died on October 20 last year at the Lekki toll gate and another location.
One Year Later
The protesters gather Lekki toll gate to mark a remembrance and to commensurate the victims of police brutality and the Lekki massacre.
The police had already warned the protesters not to have any type of demonstration in Lagos State, but the youths disobeyed and protested, flying the Nigerian flag in the process.
Some demonstrators, however, spilled onto the streets, screaming “solidarity forever” and “how many of us will you kill?”
The police were observed shooting tear gas and assaulting journalists who were reporting the events, all while attempting to confiscate cameras that were recording the events.
The Nigerian police detained a large number of demonstrators in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja and Lagos state, respectively.
