Lagos Lekki Toll Plaza: Police Crush, Arrest 10 Protesters, Haul them Into Black Maria

 

By Boye Ajayi

 

No fewer than 10 people including four girls have been arrested by security operatives at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos as the protesters made good their threat to stage the scheduled peaceful protest.

A coordinator of #OccupyLekkiTollgate, Kunle Ajayi told newsmen on Saturday that the protesters were being kept in the Black Maria with the heat from the Sun searing them before being taken to police station.

“Police have just arrested 10 protesters – Four ladies and six guys. They were beaten mercilessly and injured,” he said.

In a video, one of the arrested protesters said, “We have been arrested. Over ten of us. We are kept in a black maria stationed at the toll gate now.”

The Federal Government, state government and the police had earlier warned youths who planned to protest at the Lekki tollgate on Saturday (today) to have a rethink and shelve the protests.

Persecondnews recalls that #EndSARs protesters, who kicked against the reopening of Lagos Lekki Tollgate, decided to stage a peaceful protest for Saturday and Sunday (February 13 and 14).

However, some protesters who were hell bent on holding the protest, encountered stiff resistance from the heavily armed policemen drafted to the place to ward off the protest.

In October 2020, Nigerian youths under the aiegis of #EndSARs protest, had kicked against the Federal SARS Police brutality and called on the government to disband the killer- squad.

The government responded promptly by disbanding SARS, but the youths were not satisfied with the reforms it planned to carry out.

On October 20, 2020, tragedy struck at the Lekki Tollgate in the night when soldiers deployed by the Federal and Lagos State opened fire on the peaceful protesters, killing some people.