12 Protesters Massacred By Security Forces In Nigeria

Africa | Nigeria October 22, 2020

At least 12 unarmed protesters in Lagos, Nigeria, have been massacred by security forces, reported some media on October 21, 2020.

The massacre dubbed “death at dusk” by some Nigerian media, is said to have taken place on the early evening of October 20, 2020 after soldiers and police opened fire on thousands of protesters in two separate parts of Lagos that included a toll road station called Lekki Toll Plaza. The protesters had gathered at the two locations in defiance of a curfew, to continue their demonstration against brutality by the country’s notorious police unit called Special Anti-Robbery Squad alias SARS.

The deadly violent crackdown on protesters by security forces in Lagos has been strongly condemned worldwide, including by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN). Particularly, the UN Secretary General is said to have called for police brutality against protesters in Nigeria and elsewhere to stop immediately and urged for identification and prosecution of those responsible for unleashing the horror.

Nigeria’s protests against police brutality and SARS in particular have been ongoing for weeks now. In response, the federal government there disbanded SARS and later imposed curfew in Lagos, hoping the protests will then stop. However, that did not happen. Instead the protests intensified and took a wider scope that included new demands by protesters that include eradication of corruption and inequality in the West African nation.

Reportedly, Nigeria is among countries with highest levels of corruption and inequality in Africa and probably the world. For instance, about 10.5 million children aged between 5 – 14 years in Nigeria are said to have no access to school. That implies 20% of the world’s out-of-school children are in Nigeria, despite the country being Africa’s largest economy.

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