Police Officers on Thursday fired teargas canisters and water cannons at youths commemorating the memorial of the #EndSARS movement at Lekki tollgate, Lagos state.
The memorial rally was organized to mark the second anniversary of the shooting at the tollgate during the #EndSARS protest.
On Thursday morning, the youths walked through the tollgate axis singing dirge songs while carrying mock coffins to commemorate the October 20, 2020 incident.
The rally tagged ‘peace walk’, took a turn for the worse as police officers shot teargas canisters to disperse the participants.
It could be recalled on October 2020, youths across the country took to the streets to demand an end to police brutality and extrajudicial killings by the disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS).
The tollgate was the epicenter of the protests.
Youths who gathered day and night at the tollgate were dispersed from the location by gun-wielding soldiers on October 20, 2020, an action which reportedly led to loss of lives.
See some Photos from the incident below
The spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, told Channels Television that said some of the participants were “unruly” and climbed the top of the toll gate.
“That was not needed. You are doing a procession, just walk past. But these people now stop there and climbed on the toll gate becoming a nuisance, threatening to break down the existing law and order.
“We can’t stand there and watch them misbehave. The least we could do was to use teargas, any other thing apart from teargas will be more harmful.
“There is no record of injury. We only did our job and faced those who were unruly,” he said.
Some of the participants at the procession include popular comedian Debo Adebayo, also known as Mr. Macaroni; and musician Folarin Falana, better known as Falz.
According to the organizers, the procession was to commemorate the second-year anniversary of the #EndSARS protest that rocked Lagos and parts of Nigeria in October 2020.
Scores of fully armed police officers were seen with about 25 patrol vans at the toll gate.
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