i want to turn to a story we're hearing
from a great deal from viewers and
listeners in
nigeria these growing protests nigeria's
head of police has now ordered his men
to stop using force against protesters
he's also ordered the unconditional
release of all those arrested
during the demonstrations let me show
you these pictures from monday
as police using live ammunition against
people demonstrating in lagos nigeria's
biggest city
they've also been using powerful water
cannons amnesty international says at
least 10 protesters
have been killed so far and scenes like
these from today
have also been going on and it's been
happening for a week now the
demonstrators are calling for a
notorious police unit known as sars
to be scrapped is the special
anti-robbery squad and it's widely
accused of human rights violations
including torture
and extrajudicial killings these are the
type of abuses
protesters want to stop
this is footage from 2014 showing a man
being hit by armed policemen as they
hurl abuse at him
there are also claims of daily
persecution of ordinary nigerians
young people in particular say they're
routinely routinely harassed by sars
and alleged extorted allegedly extorted
for money too
here are some of the protesters i'm a
woman i come back
at night police will tell me the way
that get money to buy my vehicle
don't call me prostitute we cannot do
that i want to ask for my money man stop
killing our boyfriends
stop killing our children stop mothers
are crying
stop killing them now
today not tomorrow and starts
sunday the authorities try to placate
the protesters by announcing the
dissolution of sars but
protesters say they heard the promise
they've heard the promises before
this is the same head of police speaking
last year the operation of the special
anti-robbery squad
which is currently centralized at the
fourth sequitus
is hereby decentralized
become more than just about that one
police unit the protesters are now
listing further demands in this poster
for example they include
the creation of an independent body to
oversee the allegations of abuse
and they say until all of their demands
are met the unrest the protests
will continue well let's hear from ruth
oliphant
in lagos she's with the clean foundation
that promotes police reform in nigeria
so what you see that is still happening
um
goes beyond just the dissolution of sas
uh two external issues are revolving
around the need for
lasting sustainable police reform so
people are still on the streets because
overall the policing culture by the
nigerian police
management and in terms of the police
and architecture
it's at its lowest you cannot compare
that with best uh global practices over
time
you've had a police institution that has
been so far
alienated from the people so you see
that
there are still issues of extortion
despite a clear example
you have cases of bellies free so the
police will commonly tell you that bail
is free
but yet you still have people being
extorted
at the various police stations on the
roads at
checkpoints at roadblocks uh you cannot
move easily you see how the police
extorting
and you have not if you are not able to
park uh some few naira notes
you end up being uh your rights being
violated either you're asked to park
and then in terms of what you see on the
streets where you have
the average nigerian youth hitting the
street there has been a policing culture
that targets
uh young nigerian youths that are
perhaps seen in flashy cows
and these are seen as internet
fraudsters
well next is the latest on this story
from the bbc's ishaq khalid
in the capital abuja what we've seen
today
is that the protest has grown bigger and
spread
wider to around a dozen cities across
the country but
we've seen less violence compared to
yesterday monday
when we saw multiple casualties among
the protesters and even the
police officers but what is not clear is
whether
the measures the authorities are taking
will actually convince and satisfy
the protesters and stop taking to the
streets one thing
some people are saying is that there is
a sense that there is more
to this protest than police brutality
is her khalid bbc news abuja