RIGHT TO THE CITY
#ENDSARS & POLICE BRUTALITY
In relation to #Endsars movement in Nigeria, we identified a number of factors which led to a tension between the government and the youths of the country.
The Special anti-robbery squad (SARS) have been directly responsible for the consistent harassment and death of innocent youths all over Nigeria which has led to protest of Nigerians all over the world demanding for the complete abolishment of the police unit. Simply, the #EndSars movement is a result of the country’s underlying issues of corruption, poor governance and class inequality.
Police brutality in Nigeria is sustained by whoever pays the policing forces- therefore the police are the hand of the elite political class. To add, government-sponsored local media houses refused to report on the protests, resulting in civilians resorting to social media to bring about global awareness of the atrocities.
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RIGHT TO THE CITY
#ENDSARS & POLICE BRUTALITY
In relation to #Endsars movement in Nigeria, we identified a number of factors which led to a tension between the government and the youths of the country.
The Special anti-robbery squad (SARS) have been directly responsible for the consistent harassment and death of innocent youths all over Nigeria which has led to protest of Nigerians all over the world demanding for the complete abolishment of the police unit. Simply, the #EndSars movement is a result of the country’s underlying issues of corruption, poor governance and class inequality.
Police brutality in Nigeria is sustained by whoever pays the policing forces- therefore the police are the hand of the elite political class. To add, government-sponsored local media houses refused to report on the protests, resulting in civilians resorting to social media to bring about global awareness of the atrocities.
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OCT 7th 2020
Three-day protest begin calling for the disbandment of SARS, triggering a fourteen-day demonstration
OCT 10th 2020
Isiaka Jimoh is killed by police at an #ENDSARS protest. The students death sparks international awareness of the protests
OCT 15th 2020
Anonymous breaches the Federal Governments websites. All street demonstrations are banned
OCT 19th 2020
Curfews are enforced in some states. Soldiers are deployed and stationed across Abuja.
Lagos State Govt. have lost N234m in revenue from tollgate occupation
OCT 21th 2020
Lagos State Government declares a 72-hour lockdown
OCT 22nd 2020
Warehouses with COVID-19 food aid hidden by Govt. officials is looted reclaimed and redistributed by protesters
OCT 28th 2020
A committee is launches to meet the demands of protestors
OCT 3rd 2020
A Viral post is circulated on social media about a young boy shot dead by SARS
OCT 8th 2020
Nigerian musicians and celebrities join the protests after increased social media attention
OCT 12th 2020
Lekki Toll Gate becomes the epicentre of the #ENDSARS. Amnesty International claims 10 people have died since the start of the protests
OCT 18th 2020
'Soro Soke' online radio is launched by protesters to aid nationwide coordination. Protesters block the Central Bank of Nigeria HQ in Abuja
OCT 20th 2020
Govt. launch cyber warfare exercise to identify, track and counter negative propaganda on social media. Lagos State enforces 24-hour curfew with nationwide wide deployment of anti-riot police. Nigeria's airspace due to civil unrest
OCT 24th 2020
#ENDSARS protests take place globally with many demonstrations outside Nigerian consulate houses
#ENDSARS TIMELINE
RIGHT TO THE CITY
#ENDSARS & POLICE BRUTALITY
In relation to #Endsars movement in Nigeria, we identified a number of factors which led to a tension between the government and the youths of the country.
The Special anti-robbery squad (SARS) have been directly responsible for the consistent harassment and death of innocent youths all over Nigeria which has led to protest of Nigerians all over the world demanding for the complete abolishment of the police unit. Simply, the #EndSars movement is a result of the country’s underlying issues of corruption, poor governance and class inequality.
Police brutality in Nigeria is sustained by whoever pays the policing forces- therefore the police are the hand of the elite political class. To add, government-sponsored local media houses refused to report on the protests, resulting in civilians resorting to social media to bring about global awareness of the atrocities.
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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LEKKI TOLLGATE
In October 2020, the first protests in Lagos, Nigeria were held around the police stations in Surulere which is located in the older, middle-income part of the city. However, the protests taking place in Surulere were largely ignored. This led to the demonstration being moved to the Lekki toll gate, located in the newer and more affluent part of the city. The first major gathering along the Lekki-Epe expressway took place in mid-October, disrupting the traffic along the 50-kilometre road, causing major traffic and affecting the revenue generated by the tollgate (which is owned by the family of a former governor).
The decision to disrupt the flow of traffic in this area and put the toll-gate owners at a financial loss using spatial tactics such as barricading access points, pushed the protests to the forefront of national debate. The loss of millions of Naira daily triggered a government announcement, assuring the disbandment of the SARS unit and pleading with the citizens to stop the protests. This fell on deaf ears as this announcement has been previously made multiple times over the past 4 years, enraging the masses who in turn made five demands the government had to meet for the protests to end.
1992
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) is founded by former police commissioner Simeon Danladi Midenda
DEC 2017
Start of advocacy campaign against police brutality with #ENDSARS protests begin in Nigeria's capital, Abuja
AUG 2018
Acting President of Nigeria orders an investigation and reform of SARS unit
JAN 2019
Inspector General of Police order the decentralisation of the Federal SARS unit
NOV 2018
Anti-Social Media Bill is introduced at the Senate to suppress the spread of information
NOV 2020
Bank accounts of individuals and companies linked to the protests are frozen. Reports circulate of prominent activists' passports being seized and phones tapped
NOV 2020
Lagos State Police use verbal intimidation tactics to threaten potential protesters online
"The right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources; it is the right to change ourselves by changing the city. It is, moreover, a common rather than an individual right since this transformation inevitably depends on the exercise of a collective power to reshape the processes of urbanisation. The freedom to make and remake our cities and ourselves is...one of the most precious yet neglected of our human rights".
DAVID HARVEY, MARXIST ECONOMIST
