Nigerian police arrest protesters at Lekki shooting site

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The toll plaza was the scene of a deadly shooting of unarmed protesters by Nigerian soldiers on Oct. 20.
The facility had been closed since the night of the shooting, but a judicial panel – set up by authorities to investigate reports of police brutality and the military’s violence against #EndSARS protesters – recently voted before reopening.

Supporters of #EndSARS disapproved of the panel’s decision. Many consider the reopening of the toll booth ill-timed and inconsiderate for the victims of the Lekki shootings.

A CNN team on site witnessed a group being taken to a police truck in the midst of a heavy police presence.

“We have the right to tell our fellow citizens who are not doing what is right that what they are doing is wrong. police car.

Adenola said he had come to the protests on Saturday to show support for the organizers and observe the demonstrations, but was arrested when he refused to identify himself.

“I have told them that I will not lose my right to protest, even if I am imprisoned – I will still speak because it is my basic human right,” he added. “Here our oppressors kicked our fellow countrymen – fellow youth.”

He continued, “We thought this place should become a museum – a museum of resistance and not to make money. People have been killed here, so many people are in hospitals – their lives have been spoiled.”

Several people at the Lekki tollbooth were taken into custody on Saturday and placed in police vehicles.

Two other arrested people appeared in front of another window of the police truck and told CNN they did not know why they had been taken into custody.

“I was arrested for no reason. No interviews, no one spoke to me. I was only stopped while walking down the street,” said Emmanuel Oboji, a construction worker. ‘I do not know what happened. I was arrested for walking through my country. ‘

The Nigerian government earlier this week called on supporters of the #EndSARS movement to suspend plans for the renewed protests at the site.
The heavy display of police force seemed to have deterred protesters from gathering on Saturday.

Only a few protesters had arrived at the scheduled start time for the protest. Police heavily attacked the protesters who did show up by beating them with sticks before they were arrested and seized # EndSARS posters.

The SARS unit was set up in 1992 to combat armed robbery and was given extensive powers. Many of the officers did not wear uniforms or name tags and there were numerous complaints that they had turned against the civilians and committed the crimes they were set up to combat.

The Inspector General of the Police of Nigeria announced in October that SARS would be disbanded and that the agents would be re-deployed, but protests have continued.

Following the October 20 incident, a CNN investigation found that members of the Nigerian military and police fired at the crowd, killing at least one person and injuring dozens of others. The army denied any wrongdoing, but made many varying statements about how the peaceful protesters handled that night.

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