By Annika Singh
With the backdrop of international resistance to police brutality, Nigeria has experienced a resurgence of its protest movement against the abuses of law enforcement: End SARS. The protests began in 2017, but recent footage depicting yet another instance of brutality by the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on October 6th triggered nationwide demonstrations.
SARS, a unit of the police created in the 1990s to target the armed robberies and violence by criminal groups in Nigeria, has come to represent the brutality of the Nigerian police force. Extrajudicial killings, torture, robberies and corruption by the anti-robbery squad—Amnesty International recorded 82 cases from January 2017 to May 2020—have led to a protest movement calling for its dissolution.
Over the last two weeks, the fight has been relentless. Peaceful demonstrations by Nigerian protestors have been met with harsh tactics by the police—tear gas, water cannons, and live ammunition were employed by the Nigerian police against End SARS protestors, leading to at least 15 deaths recorded by Amnesty International.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced on Sunday (October 11) that SARS would be dissolved—however, protests continued. This is not the first time that Nigerian authorities have promised reform. After an investigation was launched in August 2018 into the activities of SARS, the report has yet to be publicly released. Likewise, the Anti-Torture Act of 2017 has not led to the prosecution of any SARS officers, despite evidence of their abuses of power. Promises of reform have been made countless times over the last few years, but systemic change has yet to be enacted.
Protestors grew increasingly skeptical after an announcement last Tuesday by the police force revealed that a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team would be created to replace the disbanded unit. In a later statement on Sunday, the inspector general of police, Mohammed Adamu, declared that training would be overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross, after demands by protestors called for an independent body to facilitate training.
While ex-SARS officers are unable to join the SWAT team, they will be redeployed to different units after undergoing physical and psychological examinations. A Lagos protestor, Okoye Paul, commented, "Redeploying is not reform."
As the protests morph into a larger anti-police brutality cause, it is clear that Nigerians are unwilling to back down without long-overdue changes to their police force.
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