In Africa's Nigeria there is a police force called the SARS.
The group tackles robbery, kidnappings and other violent crimes.
It was established in 1992.
But now the group has been criticized for human rights abuses, torture, extortion,
abusing their power and extrajudicial killings.
Citizens are very afraid of the wrongdoings done by SARS.
Plain clothes SARS officers frequently target young men with tattoos,
dreadlocks and expensive cars arbitrarily and torture them, even though the individual has not done anything.
A video went viral on social media that showed SARS officers shooting a man in Nigeria’s Delta State.
Furious over this, Nigerian began protesting against the SARS on 8th October 2020.
They demanded the government to remove the SARS.
The protests have been going on for 2 weeks now.
Lagos is a city in Nigeria.
The government imposed a curfew in Lagos and ordered everyone to go home.
Despite this, on 20th October Nigerians continued to protest.
The Nigerian police opened fire on protesters in Lagos city and shot 2 people.
Videos were shown on Nigeria's Channels Television
captured audio of live rounds being fired at the scene.
People on Twitter condemned the firing.
The Nigerian Army tweeted images of reports about the shootings
with the words "fake news" written on them.
Amnesty International, the human rights organization, said that
they have evidence that security forces in Lagos have fatally shot protesters.
Many in the world were completely unaware about the situation in Nigeria.
Well known personalities like Twitter founder Jack Dorsey,
actor John Boyega and footballer Marcus Rashford,
singer Beyonce & Rihanna condemned the brutality and supported the protestors by posting Tweets.
This drew the world's attention to the problems in Nigeria.
The police announced that SARS would be dissolved
and a new Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team would be made.
The government has called on the protesters to leave the streets,
arguing the situation is resolved.
However protestors have refused to leave.
Even though the government promised to dissolve SARS and create SWAT,
protestors say they do not have faith in government
because they have failed to deliver on its promises in the past.