The live fire during the protests adds fuel to the fire. Reports about the number of victims vary. Amnesty International Nigeria and local media report at least ten deaths. Other sources report that a civilian and a cop were killed.
Edaoto: “You say you want to reform and then you shoot at your citizens? All officers must be retrained. And we demand the departure of the highest police chief, the inspector general, because he clearly has no control over the police force anymore. “
A higher salary is also demanded for the police. The idea is that if cops get decent wages, they don’t have to rob civilians anymore.
Phones and tattoos
It’s not surprising that Nigerians take government promises with a grain of salt. According to Amnesty International, the government has already reorganized the unit four times in the past five years, but that has not helped.
Amnesty International investigated SARS and counted 82 cases of excessive violence between January 2017 and May 2020. For example, suspects were routinely tortured to extract confessions. Officers were not punished for that. Many of the victims are young people between 18 and 35 years old.
A large part of the protesters also come from this group. Young people who have a little more to spend are the target. “Nice clothes and nice phones attract corrupt cops,” says Anetu in his thirties. “And also young people with dreadlocks, tattoos and piercings should be careful because the police despise them.”
For now, the movement does not hold back. “The demonstrations are the result of the bad experiences everyone has. So it is very personal. And we are many. We have one of the youngest population groups in the world and we want them to listen to us.”
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