It could aptly be described as another round of brutality, as men of the Nigeria Police fired several canisters of tear-gas at peaceful demonstrators, marching at the Lekki Toll gate in Lagos state.
On Thursday, October 20, the demonstrators march round the toll-gate, to mark the second-anniversary of peaceful protests against police brutality, which ended in anguish, following the shooting and killing of some demonstrators.
Eyewitness gave the account on how police fired five rounds of tear-gas to disperse over 200 people marching at the gate while waving Nigerian flags and singing “solidarity forever.”
Like the main protest last two years, the Police also arrested some marchers, according to Eyewitness.
Lagos State Police Spokesman could not be reached for comments, however one of the demonstrators, Yemi Ojo said they would not forget the end-sars protest in hurry and that is “why we are marking its second year anniversary this month’
Due to the tear-gas, most protesters had left the scene by noon.
It would be recalled that on October 20, 2020, security forces opened fire on peaceful protesters, demanding an end to what they said was endemic police brutality, particularly from a unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, according to a judicial panel investigating the incident and set-up by the Lagos state government.
The panel said 11 were killed, four missing and presumed dead and multiple others had suffered gunshot wounds.
It added that nearly 100 other unidentified corpses in Lagos state could be linked to the incident.
The Army and Police denied using live bullets and the Lagos state as well as the federal government rejected the judicial report, saying it was strewn with errors and its conclusions were not backed up by evide
The SARS unit, accused of extortion, harassment, torture and murder was disbanded on October 11, 2020 in response to the protests.
After the shootings, some protesters depicted a pattern of intimidation, detentions and even asset freezes.
Amnesty International said that more than 40 protesters were still in prisons nationwide, following the 2020 demonstrations.
