The campaign against police brutality and extra-judicial killings continued on Friday with young Nigerians occupying the entrance of Lagos State House of Assembly Complex.
The protesters, who spent the night at the entrance of the complex demanded an immediate response and immediate disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives.
On Friday morning, the youths assembled and chanted solidarity songs. Others continued with ‘END SARS!’ ‘END SARS!’ chants as they demanded an audience of the lawmakers.
The youths decried harassment encountered in the hands of SARS operatives, lamenting the rate at which many young creatives are being battered and killed by trigger-happy police officers.
“We are not here to submit a petition, we are here to get results. So 15 persons are going in,” one of the protesters said as the lawmakers later addressed them and invited their delegates to discuss their demands on the floor of the House.
The lawmaker representing Surulere Constituency, Desmond Elliot, during the discussion of the demands of the campaigners said, “It has gone beyond having hotlines or doing reforms. We really need to look into it. Nigeria Police are working for the people. If the (SARS) unit is working for the people and the people are calling for it to be disbanded, then let us do what they are saying.”
The Deputy Speaker in his contribution called on the Senate to institute a public probe on the extrajudicial killings of innocent Nigerian youths.
End SARS protests were held in various locations across Nigeria on Wednesday, however, while many thought the noontime demonstrations would be all for the day, a group of young people led by Mr Debo Adebayo, a comedian popularly known as Mr Macaroni, stormed the premises of the Lagos Assembly, asking that the lawmakers pass legislation that will see to the disbandment of the SARS unit in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Source: Channels TV
