News / Nigeria

UN urges ‘maximum restraint, peaceful demos’ in Nigeria

Wednesday, 21 October 2020 3:14 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 21 October 2020 3:14 PM ]

Protesters gather in front of Alausa, the Lagos State Secretariat, in Lagos, Nigeria, October 20, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged an end to Nigerian police ‘brutality’ against the backdrop of ‘multiple deaths’ reported during protests in the main city of Lagos.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Wednesday that Guterres had demanded an end to “reported police brutality and abuses.”

“The Secretary-General urges the security forces to act at all times with maximum restraint while calling on protesters to demonstrate peacefully and to refrain from violence.”

Guterres also called on the Nigerian authorities to investigate the incidents in which gunmen opened fire on peaceful protesters on Tuesday evening in Lagos and caused “multiple deaths” and many injuries.

The UN chief stressed that the perpetrators must be held accountable.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also denounced the killings.

“It is alarming to learn that several people have been killed and injured during the ongoing protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Nigeria.”

“It is crucial that those responsible of abuses be brought to justice and held accountable,” Borrell added.

Witnesses said gunmen opened fire on a crowd of over 1,000 people on Tuesday evening to disperse them after a curfew was imposed in response to the growing protests.

Nigeria has been rocked by protests over police brutality and deep-rooted social grievances for two weeks.

Around the area of the Tuesday shooting in Lagos, several buildings were torched on Wednesday and sporadic clashes erupted between bottle-throwing youths and police, who occasionally shot into the air.

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