In the wake of increased occurrences of Black Lives Matter protests in America spanning the past few months, numerous other large scale human rights movements have broken out across the globe. In recent weeks, Nigeria has been one of these hotspots. Young people across the nation are making their voices heard, speaking out against the nation's Special Anti-Robbery Squad, otherwise known as SARS. Since its formation in 1992, tasked with the mission of combating serious crimes in Nigeria, the unit has instead committed human rights abuses agains the people it has sworn to protect. Examples include, but are not limited to "extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, and extortion." Often times, it is young people who appear well off or who have dreadlocks and tattoos who are targeted. In response to the protests, the Nigerian government has declared that SARS will be dissolved and has promised to curb police brutality. Despite this step, Nigerians are still largely dissatisfied, seeing the move as superficial. So far, at least 4 demonstrators have been killed, and many others have been brutally beaten. Protests have continued, accompanied by louder calls for more sweeping reforms in the country as a whole.
By Rola Goke-Pariola
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/16/nigeria-crackdown-police-brutality-protests#
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