It was gory scene Tuesday night as soldiers and anti-riot policemen drafted to enforced 24-hours curfew descended on #EndSARS protesters at Lekki Toll Gate, leaving with it tales of deaths, injuries and agony.
BIGPEN reports that the death toll was unclear but witnesses said several protesters were shot by the soldiers – some died instantly while others died on their way to the hospital.
Some of the protesters said that many of those shot were denied evacuation by the soldiers who blocked an ambulance from reaching the scene.
“An ambulance just turn back they said the Nigeria ARMY didn’t allow them to pass for them to rescue the life of the Nigerian youths in Lekki toll gate…..what a sad news”, one protesters tweeted this night.
One protester described the scene as theater of war, saying “there is a massacre going on right now at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos Nigeria” while calling for help for the innocent civilians being shot at.
Another protester shared a Nigeria flag that was desecrated with blood, saying “A day to be remembered. 10/20/2020. Nigerian FG stained it’s own flag with the blood of innocents Nigerians”.
From a video clip of the scene that was shared by Reno Omokri, former aide of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, show a staccato of gunshots being fired as the protester ran helter-skelter for their dear lives.
Some of the protesters blamed the bloodbath on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu who earlier in the day imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the metropolis.
“It been known today that Lagos state government killed people while Oyo state provided protection for those protesting. Let all the dead bodies be kept for them to eat on the streets thank you for killing us”, an angry protester said.
One version in New York Times says the armed forces were deployed to the Lekki Toll Gate area, an upscale suburb of Lagos, where the biggest ongoing protests have been held, largely peacefully, since October 7. Beginning at around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, some of them began firing — shortly after the streetlights unexpectedly went out and security cameras were
removed from the scene, witnesses said.
A protester streaming the scene live on Instagram, Obianuju Catherine Udeh, 29, a disc jockey who goes by DJ Switch, said she counted seven casualties around her. Sporadic gunfire went on for about an hour.
“We’ve already told them we’re not going anywhere,” she said. In front of her, a body lay motionless, and nearby protesters crowded around a man with what appeared to be a gunshot wound in his leg.
“The whole place is blocked, there are soldiers everywhere and they came in guns blazing,” DJ Switch said, before her livestream suddenly ended. “Are they going to shoot all of us?
The only weapon we have is the Nigerian flag.”
The governor of Lagos State, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, said that people bent on creating chaos had hijacked the mostly peaceful protests against police brutality — a claim supported by witness accounts of the demonstrations.
“Lives and limbs have been lost as criminals and miscreants are now hiding under the umbrella of these protests to unleash mayhem on our state,” the governor said in a statement.
After the police station was burned, the governor declared a 4 p.m. curfew, giving people about four hours to get home in an immense metropolitan area with some 14 million people and some of the world’s worst traffic jams. Many people had little hope of complying with the curfew; many others did not try.
Protesters in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, have been demanding that the government disband a rogue police unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, commonly known as SARS, and that they say particularly robs, tortures and even kills well-dressed young people who the officers think might have money. The crowds have also called for punishment of officers who commit brutality.
Last week, President Buhari agreed to dismantle SARS and carry out other police reforms, vowing to “ensure that all those responsible for misconduct are brought to justice.”
But the demonstrations have not abated. People note that the government has promised before to do away with SARS, yet it still exists, and they argue that a newly created police unit will just be the same menace in new uniforms.
(BIGPEN with additional reporting, New York Times)
