Over the past two weeks, the #EndSars protests in Nigeria have caught international attention. People have been taking to the street to protest police brutality at the hand of the Nigerian Police Force's Special Anti-Robbery Unit who Amnesty International found to have a pattern of misconduct including police brutality, extortion, and more in 2017.
Despite promises being made that SARS would be dissolved, those types of promises have been made previously by officials. People are still in the streets and things have turned worse for the protesters as reports of gunshots fired at protesters at Lekki Toll in Nigeria. DJ Switch took to Instagram Live where she documented what was going down including one man who was shot in the leg while holding the Nigerian flag. "There are military men with actual bullets, they have shot several people," she said. She also revealed the name of the commanding officer at the gate, Ifo Amata, as she's heard demanding for an ambulance.
According to Switch's IG Live, seven people have died at the Lekki Toll Gate. Twitter page @ThisIsAfrica reports that all sources of lights were switched off to make it difficult to film. CCTV cameras were reportedly also removed, according to protesters.
The shooting arrives after the government tried to enforce a curfew in Lagos due to the protests in the streets.
Viewers quickly poured into Switch's IG Live, ramping up to upwards of 180k people live, before the stream ended. There were many "blue checks" watching the live and expressing their concern and dismay, including Diddy, Burna Boy, and Shaun King. Before the stream went dead, Switch and those surrounding her were attempting to save another man who appeared to have been shot.
We'll keep you posted as more details from this situation arrive.