EKO NEWS

Police Commence Show Of Force Over #ENDSARS Memorial Protest In Lagos (Photos)

Published

3 years ago

Oct 19, 2021.

Segun Ojo

Police operatives have commenced a show of force over #ENDSARS Memorial Protest in Lagos State.

EKOHOTBLOG reports that the Lagos State Police Command has started a show of force ahead of the planned #EndSARS protest to commemorate the first anniversary of the 2020 demonstration by youths across the country.

This online news platform had earlier reported that popular Nigerian rapper, Folarin Falana, fondly known as Falz, said Nigerian youths will not be silenced by anyone.

EKOHOTBLOG understands that the youths have vowed to mark the one year of the protests against police brutality and corruption with another protest.

It would be recalled that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, made a U-turn on its earlier warning against any gathering or organisation of protest in commemoration of the first anniversary of last year’s #EndSARS protest in the state.

The police commissioner had described protests as a right citizen are entitled to.

Odumosu added that the state police command would be ready to protect protesters.

The police commissioner made this known after the Lagos State Police Command had earlier in a statement said, “The police in the state will not fold their arms and allow some misguided elements disrupt the peace and serenity currently being enjoyed in the state.

”To forestall breakdown of law and order, the police will use all legitimate means within their constitutional powers to suppress the planned protest…”

EKOHOTBLOG reports that Lagos became the epicentre of the #EndSARS protests when, on October 20, 2020, soldiers from Bonny Camp, 81 Division, fired live bullets at protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate and the alleged killings that reportedly attended the shooting led to a global outrage that rattled both the state and federal governments.

The actual number of fatalities at the shooting scene is yet to be established despite multiple testimonies at the judicial panel set up by the state government to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the mayhem and compensate identifiable victims of police brutality.