Nigerian protesters say security forces fired on them amid growing global outrage
By Danielle Paquette,
Sunday Alamba AP
DAKAR, Senegal — Several people died and dozens were wounded after Nigerian security forces opened fire at a protest against police brutality Tuesday night in Lagos, witnesses and human rights groups said, sparking global outrage as videos of the violence swept social media.
The clash that shocked Africa’s most populous nation followed two weeks of largely peaceful demonstrations, which led to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari dissolving an undercover squad that critics have long blasted as abusive.
But thousands of protesters who saw that action as hollow pledged to stay in the streets this week after several major cities imposed curfews.
[Nigeria abolishes special police squad after nationwide protests]
Witnesses captured footage late Tuesday of uniformed men with guns approaching a crowd in an upscale suburb called Lekki. People sang the Nigerian national anthem as shots rang out.
Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, described the unrest as one of the “darkest hours from our history as a people” on Wednesday but said authorities had recorded only one fatality at the hospital — “an isolated case,” he wrote.
Thirty were injured, Sanwo-Olu said in a series of tweets. Authorities, he added, will investigate the shooting.
Sunday Alamba
AP
People protest against alleged police brutality near to the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, Nigeria, Wednesday Oct. 21, 2020.
The Nigerian president did not address the bloodshed in a Wednesday statement. He appealed instead for calm and patience as police reforms “gather pace.”
The Nigerian military denied aiming at protesters, tweeting from its official page, “Fake news!!!” It did not otherwise respond to requests for comment.
Witnesses disputed that account.
“All I heard was bullets — left, right and center,” said a 37-year-old man, who recorded a live Instagram video at the demonstration, which unfolded in front of a toll plaza.
At least four people around him died, said the man, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because he feared retribution.
“There was no warning,” he said, breaking down in tears.
At least 15 civilians have died across the country since the protests began, said Isa Sanusi, spokesman for Amnesty International in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
The number of casualties from the Lekki shooting remained unclear Wednesday, he said, but the group had received “credible evidence” of multiple deaths and are still conducting interviews with hospitals.
The nationwide protests started on Oct. 7 after video emerged of officers from the federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, shooting an unarmed man.
Global celebrities, including Rihanna, Cardi B and Burna Boy, have rallied behind the cause, helping the hashtag #EndSARS go viral.
“Our determination to reform the police should never be in doubt,” the Nigerian president tweeted this month just before disbanding the unit, which formed nearly three decades ago to fight violent crime and operated in plain clothes.
Ademola Olaniran
Via Reuters
Lagos State Goveror Babajide Sanwo-Olu visits injured people at a hospital in Lagos, in this picture obtained by Reuters on October 21, 2020, Nigeria.
Critics say the officers were known to commit the kinds of crimes they were meant to stop, robbing young people who appeared to have money under the guise of quashing fraud.
Amnesty International said it has documented 82 cases of the squad’s abuses in the past three years, including beating, hanging, mock execution, sexual assault and waterboarding.
On Wednesday, U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden urged Buhari and the Nigerian military to end the “violent crackdown.”
“The U.S. must stand with Nigerians who are peacefully demonstrating for police reform and seeking an end to corruption in their democracy,” he said in a statement.
Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton joined the chorus of condemnation, calling on authorities to “stop killing young #EndSars protesters.”
Nigerian soccer star Odion Jude Ighalo, who plays for Manchester United, slammed the army in an online video, adding, “I’m ashamed of this government.”
The unrest escalated on Tuesday following news reports that officers had killed two people in Lagos, the continent’s largest city. A crowd torched a police station, and protesters blocked roads, demanding justice for the victims.
The Nigerian Police Force deployed anti-riot officers to “protect the lives and property of all Nigerians and secure critical national infrastructure across the country,” a spokesman said in a statement.
In the Lekki toll gate area, where the largest groups of protesters have gathered, hundreds defied a 24-hour curfew and danced to Afrobeats in the street, numerous videos show.
Many waved Nigerian flags, believing it would protect them from security forces. Some held umbrellas to shield them from the sun.
“Sit down,” a woman advised the crowds, according to footage from the scene. “Don’t run. Raise your flag. They won’t attack you.”
Just after 7 p.m., however, uniformed men surrounded the crowd. Video captured the street lights going out. Gunfire erupted. Then screams.
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