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Demonstrations against police violence dragged on in Nigeria’s major cities on Wednesday, with unidentified men in the capital Abuja attacking protesters by hacking into their vehicles with machetes, according to witnesses.
Anger over abuses by the police’s notorious Special Anti-Theft Squad (SARS) erupted in the streets earlier this month, forcing the government to announce that they were eliminating the unit as part of broader police reforms.
The authorities promised a series of measures, including the release of the protesters and the establishment, within a week, of an independent body to investigate the violations.
The government has also responded to a demand to provide psychological evaluation and training to disbanded SARS officials prior to their re-deployment.
But frustration is mounting among Nigerian youth who face the brunt of abuse and lack of opportunity, and many insist they will continue to protest.
Several hundred people gathered in Abuja on Wednesday when witnesses said they were attacked.
“A group of children, maybe 30 of them, 16 to 20 years old, clearly drugged, came and started destroying our cars,” Esther Jonathan, 28, told AFP.
Human rights activist Aisha Yusufu said that paying thugs to crack down on protesters was a known tactic in Nigeria.
“This is something they did to us before,” Yusufu told AFP. “They attacked us in 2014 under the watchful eye of the police, and that is what they have done again in 2020.”
In Ikeja, in Lagos state, several witnesses said that men with machetes and axes tried to attack protesters, but were arrested and handed over to the police.
Rare concession
The police inspector general said a new Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team would “fill the gaps arising from the dissolution of the now-defunct SARS.”
The announcement, which followed a closed-door meeting, was met with skepticism, and the hashtag #EndSWAT quickly started trending online alongside #EndSARS.
Amnesty International documented at least 82 cases of torture, ill-treatment and extrajudicial execution by SARS between January 2017 and May 2020.
A young man holds up a sign that says “Am I next?” By Benson Ibeabuchi (AFP) The government’s decision to remove the unit has been a rare concession to popular protests in a country dominated by an entrenched ruling elite.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, welcomed the government’s promises, but warned on Twitter: “The process may take time. I appeal to the youth to remain in peace.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of people huddled in heavy rain outside a key toll gate in the sprawling economic center of Lagos, where protesters have blocked traffic since Monday, as they sought to keep up the pressure for change.
“Half of my staff have been harassed (by the police) in the last two years,” restaurant owner Aderonke Bamgbade told AFP.
“We need to reform the police and Nigeria as a whole. We cannot sit in the comfort of our homes and complain anymore.”
