Nigerian police arrest protesters at Lekki shooting range

Nigerian police arrest protesters at Lekki shooting range

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The toll plaza was the scene of a fatal shooting of unarmed protesters by Nigerian soldiers on 20 October.
The facility has been closed since the shooting night, but a judicial panel – set up by authorities to investigate reports of police brutality and the violent repression of #EndSARS protesters by the military – recently voted for its reopening.

Supporters of #EndSARS did not approve the panel’s decision. Many people consider the reopening of the toll gate to be bad and reckless for the victims of the Lekki shooting.

A CNN team at the scene witnessed a group being taken to a police truck amid 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. We must not lose heart in speaking in the face of oppression and brutality,” Damilare Adenola said. window of a police truck.

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

‘I told them I would not lose my right to protest, even if I went to jail. I will continue to speak because it is my fundamental human right, ‘he added. “It was here that our oppressors stepped on our countrymen – fellow youths.”

He continued: ‘We were of the opinion that this place should become a museum – a museum for resistance and not a money-making enterprise. “People have been killed here, so many people are in hospitals – their lives have been ruined.”

Several individuals at the Lekki toll gate were arrested on Saturday and placed in police vehicles.

Two more people who were arrested appeared at another window of the police truck and told CNN that they did not know why they were arrested.

“I was picked up for no reason. No interviews, no one spoke to me. I was just arrested when I was walking down the street,” said Emmanuel Oboji, a construction worker. “I do not know what happened. I was picked up because I was walking in my country.”

The Nigerian government earlier this week called on sympathizers of the #EndSARS movement to lay down plans for the renewed protests on the ground.
It seems that the heavy show of force by the police protesters withheld to meet Saturday.

Only a few protesters arrived at the site at the scheduled start time of the protest. Police heavy clung to the protesters who have arrived by hitting them with sticks until they were confiscated arrested and # EndSARS posters.

The SARS unit was established in 1992 to fight armed robbery and gained wide powers. Many of the officers did not wear uniforms or name tags, and there were numerous complaints that they had exploited the civilians and committed the crimes they had committed.

The inspector general of police in Nigeria announced in October that SARS would be disbanded and its officers redeployed, but protests continue.

After the incident on October 20, a CNN investigation found that members of the Nigerian army and police fired at the crowd, killing at least one person and injuring dozens more. The army denied any wrongdoing, but made many shifting statements about how he was dealing with the peaceful protesters that night.

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