Nigeria has been rocked by days of nationwide protests over police brutality, following widespread claims of kidnapping, harassment and extortion by a controversial police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The protests turned bloody on Tuesday in Lagos, the country’s largest city, as rallies continued despite a state-wide curfew.Eyewitnesses told CNN that multiple demonstrators had been shot dead by Army soldiers, who then took the bodies away.
President Muhammadu Buhari appealed for “understanding and calm” Wednesday as scenes of chaos unfolded in the city, with buildings set alight and police stations attacked.
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The inspector general of police announced 10 days ago that the controversial SARS unit was being disbanded and its officers redeployed.
But protests have continued in cities across the country, with some young Nigerians insisting they will continue to take to the streets until the entire police force is reformed.
So what is SARS and why is it so controversial?
For more than a quarter of a century, SARS took the lead on the country’s most serious crimes — armed robbery, kidnapping, assault and murder. But over time it has become notorious for alleged abuses committed with apparent impunity.
The government promised to overhaul the unit in 2018 following a months-long social media campaign by Nigerian activists protesting alleged human rights abuses by the squad. In January 2019, thepolice announced further reforms to the unit.
But critics say the #EndSARS campaign has resulted in little change.
Human rights group Amnesty International released a damning report in June this year in which it said it had documented 82 cases of police brutality in Nigeria between 2017 and 2020.
“Detainees in SARS custody have been subjected to a variety of methods of torture including hanging, mock execution, beating, punching and kicking, burning with cigarettes, waterboarding, near-asphyxiation with plastic bags, forcing detainees to assume stressful bodily positions and sexual violence,” the report said.
