Last Wednesday’s protesters marched from the Nigerian high commission in Westminster to Parliament Square to protest against the killing of as many as twelve protesters in Lagos by the military and the police.
The protesters in Lagos were protesting against police brutality and demanding the abolition of a branch of the Nigerian police force called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad – or SARS.
The SARS was established in 1992 by the Nigerian government to tackle youth crime, but over the years more and more evidence of corruption and human rights violations began to surface, implicating the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government has continued to deploy the squad against the people.
The Nigerian police were rated the worst police in the world in 2016 by the he World Internal Security and Police Index International (WISPI).
As for the death of protesters at the Lekki Toll Bridge in Lagos last week, the Buhari government has denied any wrong doing and tried to get Twitter to pay 1bn dollars after the hashtag EndSARS starting trending.
After the killings, celebrities world wide showed their support. Beyoncé made a statement saying, “My heart is broken to see the senseless brutality taking place in Nigeria, there has to be an end to SARS”. Naomi Campbell and Edris Elba are amongst many others who spoke out, and Nigerian rapper Burna Boy was out marching in London last week.
Meanwhile in Nigeria DJ Switch has been one of those continuously raising awareness of police brutality in her country. She and many others have made sure to keep on posting on social media such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. Videos of people being shot and injured also appeared on Twitter. One Twitter user by the name of @bibi tweeted, “ They’re shooting guyssss… I’m lying down on the floor God please ooooooooo’’.
The struggle against police brutality in Nigeria has gone on for nearly a decade now. Protesters have made it clear that they want the police held accountable when they break the law and violate citizens’ rights. A petition on change.org and another on parliament.uk have drawn over 200,000 signatures between them, and there are more petitions out there as well, all attempting to make sure that those who were shot last week did not die in vain.
An enquiry has been launched into last week’s shootings. But will it find out the truth, and will police brutality come to an end?
In London yesterday, protests to #EndSARS broke out. Our reporter Mamie Mboob hit the streets to speak to those protesting. (Video edited by @Daegan_martin) pic.twitter.com/HtBgxFKklV
— Rising East (@risingeastuk) October 22, 2020
