Police on Tuesday disrupted a memorial procession at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos organised to honour victims of the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
The operatives fired tear fuel at individuals, together with two governorship candidates and journalists, earlier than the deliberate wreath-laying ceremony may happen.
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in Lagos, and Funso Doherty, who’s in search of the identical workplace on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), had been amongst these affected.
The gathering, organised by the Enough is Enough (EiE) motion to mark the sixth anniversary of the anti-police brutality protests, was delivered to an abrupt halt when officers, who had arrived at the tollgate earlier than the individuals, fired tear fuel to disperse the group.
The intervention despatched residents, journalists and different individuals scrambling for security, forcing the organisers to desert the deliberate wreath-laying ceremony.
Some individuals reportedly sustained accidents, whereas others struggled to breathe amid the tear fuel.
The disruption additionally brought on visitors to construct up alongside the busy expressway.
The organisers had introduced 15 wreaths to the venue to honour those that died in the course of the protests, together with Pelumi Onifade, a journalist who was shot useless in Lagos in the course of the nationwide demonstrations.
The incident occurred on the anniversary of the October 20, 2020, occasions at the tollgate, which turned a defining second within the nationwide protests in opposition to police brutality and the actions of the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The Lekki incident stays some of the contentious episodes of the protests. It attracted worldwide consideration and intensified requires accountability over using power by safety companies.
According to the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry’s report on the incident, 9 individuals had been confirmed useless, whereas 4 others had been listed as lacking and presumed useless.
Those recognized as useless had been Victor Sunday Ibanga, Abuta Solomon, Jide, Olalekan Abideen Ashafa, Olamilekan Ajasa, Kolade Salami, Folorunsho Olabisi, Kenechukwu Ugoh and Nathaniel Solomon.
The 4 listed as lacking and presumed useless had been Abiodun Adesanya, Ifeanyi Nicholas Eji, Tola and Wisdom.
The #EndSARS protests started as a nationwide motion in opposition to police brutality, extortion, illegal arrests and alleged abuses by SARS.
The demonstrations prompted the Federal Government to announce the disbandment of the unit in October 2020.
However, the Lekki tollgate capturing and the circumstances surrounding deaths and accidents in the course of the protests have continued to gas calls for for justice and accountability.
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