#ENDSARS

Nigeria, various locations in various states.

The first wave occurred in 2017; the second most famous started in October 2020 and ended the same year.

The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was a unit of the Nigerian Police Force that was established to detain, investigate, and prosecute people involved in violent crimes like armed robbery, kidnapping etc. However, under this guise, they were accused of several human rights violations, including killings of innocent civilians, sexual harassment, illegal ‘stop and searches’, as well as illegal arrrests. Several of these abuses were recorded and documented with videos which were posted on social media, especially Twitter. This sparked a campaign and mass peaceful protests across the nation, led by Nigerian activists, youth and celebrities, to spread awareness of SARS brutality and extortions and to demand its dissolution.

#ENDSARS was largely an online mobilisation of voices against SARS, that spilled over to physical protests. It was not largely a political protest, but a protest seeking for the reinstatement of justice, equality and judicial fairness in the vastly corrupt governmental and law enforcement structures of Nigeria.

Although the protestors were from all different backgrounds, they were able to find a common ground in their cause. The physical protests were largely peaceful, but were sometimes met with governmental violence. The protests met a brutal end with the Lekki Tollgate massacre by the Nigerian Army on 20 October 2020.

The core narrative of #ENDSARS was that the lack of accountability and the prevalent injustice of the law enforcement systems (specifically SARS) in Nigeria was dangerous to its youth and had to end.

The key message was the importance of just and transparent prosecution processes, accountability of law enforcement workers, justice and compensation for those killed through police brutality in Nigeria, the setting up of an independent body to investigate and prosecute all reports of police misconduct, the psychological evaluation and retraining of SARS operatives before they are deployed to any other police unit.

#ENDSARS was not only targeted to the public in Nigeria, or the Nigerian diaspora, but aimed at raising awareness among peoples of other nations as well. They were successful with regards to this aim, as solidarity protests and demonstrations were not only made by Nigerians in the diaspora, but by sympathizers occurred in many major cities around the world, like London and New York.

Social media and international networks mostly framed the protests in a positive light. However, there were some scepticisms from Nigerian authorities, like banking giants, and the then-Nigeria Police Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood.
The movement was largely promoted by Nigerian citizens and diaspora, but as it began to gain traction, it attracted the attention of numerous well-known celebrities, and activists. Social media was a very big driver for the outsider view. Many videos of alleged SARS brutality, including some documented the killing of Nigerian youth by weapon-wielding SARS officials helped gain sympathy for the movement/cause.
In response to the campaign, then-Nigeria Police Force Public Relations Officer Jimoh Moshood accused the protestors of criminality. Then on the 20th of October 2020, members of the Nigerian Army murdered protesters at the Lekki tollgate. This put a brutal stop to the protests. The Nigerian government and army still deny these allegations till today.
Despite the great local and international support for the #ENDSARS movement, there was some skepticism from those in certain power structures in the country. One day before the Lekki Tollgate massacre that brought a brutal end to these protests, the then-Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari  warned those involved in the movement of ‘anarchists’ who allegedly attempted to hijack the protests, and stated that the Nigerian government “would not tolerate anarchy in the country”. On Tuesday, 20 October 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria froze the accounts of notable participants in the End SARS protest. The bank did not give any justification for the freezing order. Twenty protesters with banking accounts across at least six Nigerians had all accounts linked to them placed under “post no debit”, blocking all outgoing transactions. The greatest counterattack occurred on that same day (20 October 2020) at Lekki Tollgate in Lagos, where the army opened fire on unarmed protestors, killing at least 12 people. This massacre effectively put an end to the mass protests.