SARS protesters shot at in Lagos

Hundreds of protesters at a police brutality rally in Nigeria are shot at by security forces and soldiers.

The shooting which started around 7 pm will be investigated, the Lagos state government has said.

These protests come despite Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos’s governor, imposing a 24-hour curfew earlier today.

The curfew comes after demonstrations resulted in an Iganmu police station being set on fire yesterday. Mr Sanwo-Olu said that the rallies had transformed “into a monster threatening the wellbeing of our society”.

He added: “Criminals and miscreants are now hiding under the umbrella of these protests to unleash mayhem on our state,”

Currently, five states in Nigeria and Abuja, the capital, have implemented curfews and had demonstrations banned.

The main target of the rallies is the now dissolved Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a controversial Nigerian police force unit, known for their links to torture, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, extrajudicial killings and illegal organ trading.

The broader view of the protests is concerned with the widespread and continuous abuse from Nigerian police authorities and personnel.

Protesters, mainly young people, urge the government to implement more severe police reform, to arrest and convict former SARS officers and warn the public of the new SARS replacement, the Special Weapons and Tactics group.

The protesters argue that armed people, who have been paid by influential Nigerian individuals, are attempting to discredit the demonstrations by causing violence at a peaceful rally.

According to a social media live stream, broadcasted by DJ Switch, at seven people have died in the two weeks worth of rallies. Amnesty International has recorded around 15 deaths.