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Nigerians shocked by bloody crackdown on protests

The protests started almost two weeks ago and are mainly directed against a police force, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, aka SARS. This is a unit that was set up in the early 1990s to deal with robberies and other violent crime. But protesters say the agents themselves are criminal. They accuse SARS of extortion and torture.

“If you have an iPhone or a laptop, they’ll say you’re a criminal and then they’ll arrest you,” Emmanuel said. “They pick you up and you have to pay a bribe to get you out. That happened to me and many of my friends.” Precisely because almost every young person has or knows their own story, the protest movement grew quickly.

Emmanuel says he saw four dead yesterday. The BBC says human rights organization Amnesty International is reporting 12 deaths, but that is unconfirmed. The governor of Lagos says there have only been injuries. He did apologize for the violence and announced that an investigation will be conducted into the soldiers.

Young people

It is also unclear whether the army acted on behalf of the authorities last night. Emmanuel and some of the other protesters we spoke to think so. At the same time, the military may have acted harshly on their own, assuming they can get away with it. Police and soldiers use violence more often and prosecutions are rare.

37-year-old Tabitha Olabisi has been looking for her brother since last night, she says on the phone. He was at the protests and is missing. “We had a video call at the end of the afternoon yesterday while he was at the toll booth. He said he would be home around 8:00 pm. When I heard what had happened I went to call him. His phone is off and we don’t know where he is. I’m afraid he is injured and in hospital somewhere. “

“I don’t understand why the government is so harsh,” continues the mother of three, who was not there herself because she wanted to provide for her family. “They were unarmed and had no knives or other weapons. My brother is a hardworking boy. He works as a bus driver. I’m so sad. This is about young people.”

Area boys

Young people tired of being blackmailed. Corruption is everywhere in Nigeria. Not only the police ask for bribes, but many politicians are not pure on the grade. And then there are also gangs that rule the neighborhoods, so-called area boys. Almost every paving stone in Nigeria is owned by a group of often violent youth.

And those area boys are being used by the authorities, according to protesters. During demonstrations, gangs of young people have been seen armed and disrupting things. According to Emmanuel, they are paid by the government.

37-year-old engineer Adekunle Adekoya, who also took to the streets in recent weeks, says that the movement against police violence has been hijacked by ‘scum’ and that they are being controlled. “I stayed home today because I don’t want to go along with it. We have to distinguish between our peaceful movement and the gangs that use violence.” Among other things, shops were looted today. A TV station would also have been set on fire.

Powerlessness and frustration

Emmanuel also stayed at home, for now. “There are too many soldiers and police out there.” At the same time he says, “We started with a peaceful protest, but now we are furious. If they want war, they can have war.”

Mother Olabisi also thinks that the youngsters may now riot out of impotence and frustration. She herself texted at 8 p.m. tonight that she still had no sign of life from her brother. She hopes his phone’s battery is dead and he’s decided to sleep with friends. “I don’t want to think about anything else.”

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