By Seun Sanni and Temilade Adelaja
LAGOS (Reuters) – Police fired several rounds of tear gas at demonstrators marching at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on Thursday to mark the second anniversary of peaceful protests against police brutality that ended in a hail of gunfire.
Reuters witnesses saw police fire five rounds of tear gas in an effort to disperse around 200 people marching at the gate, some waving Nigerian flags and singing “solidarity forever.” Police also arrested two people, according to a Reuters witness.
Neither a Lagos state spokesman or a police spokesman immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Oct. 20, 2020 security forces opened fire on peaceful protesters demanding an end to what they said was endemic police brutality, particularly from a unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), according to a judicial panel investigating the incident and set up by the Lagos state government.
The SARS unit – which rights groups have long accused of extortion, harassment, torture and murder – was disbanded on Oct. 11, 2020 in response to the protests.
The shootings triggered the worst street unrest since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.
The army and police both denied using live rounds, and the government rejected the judicial report, saying it was strewn with errors and its conclusions were not backed up by evidence.
(Reporting by Libby George; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
