World Nigeria is accused of opening fire on its own people at massive protests against police brutality in Africa's largest city

© Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP Protesters stand on a vehicle that is part of a military convoy sent to enforce the curfew at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, in Nigeria on October 20, 2020. Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP

• People in Nigeria have been protesting against the country's Special Anti-Robbery Squad, also known as SARS, for weeks.
• SARS has long been accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings and torture in the country.
• The demonstrations started after footage of SARS members dragging two men from a hotel in Lagos, and beating them in the streets with clubs, circulated on social media.
• On Tuesday, security forces opened fire at a peaceful protest in Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city, leaving several people dead and dozens wounded.
• The unrest has prompted high-profile global figures like US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Beyoncé, and Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo to speak out.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Nigerian security forces opened fire at a peaceful protest against police brutality in Lagos, Nigeria, on Tuesday night, killing several people and wounding dozens more, according to human-rights groups.

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Anger and shock after men in camouflage open fire on those protesting at Lagos' Lekki toll gate. "The Nigerian government, you guys are a shame to the world for killing your own citizens, sending Yet the #EndSars protests were against the brutality of a police unit, accused of illegal detentions

Nigerian police use teargas at protest against police brutality 00:35. A new tactical police unit , the Protesters throng the streets during a demonstration against police brutality in Ikeja, Lagos, on The WarnerMedia family of brands uses data collected from this site to improve and analyze its

Videos posted on social media show uniformed men with guns approaching a crowd of protesters in Lekki, an upscale suburb in Lagos, as people sang the Nigerian national anthem and waved the national flag. Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria and all of Africa.

Footage showed people fleeing and screaming as multiple shots rang out.

One witness told BBC News that soldiers had "pulled up ... and they started firing directly" at peaceful protesters.

"They were firing and they were advancing straight at us. It was chaos. Somebody got hit straight beside me and he died on the spot," he said, according to the BBC.

—Reuters (@Reuters) October 21, 2020

Amnesty International tweeted that it had received "credible but disturbing evidence" that peaceful protesters had been shot at by police.

Trauma and fury as soldiers open fire in Nigeria, drawing global attention to weekslong protests

Events reached a climax in the west African country Tuesday night with reports of soldiers opening fire on protesters in Lagos.Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said Wednesday that one person had died at a hospital in Lagos, the country's financial capital, after a shooting in the upmarket suburb of Lekki on Tuesday, but did not confirm whether the victim was a protester.

Amnesty International says Nigerian soldiers have opened fire on people in Lagos protesting against alleged police brutality , injuring Thousands of Nigerians have been demonstrating daily for nearly two weeks against the Special Anti -Robbery Squad (SARS), which has been accused of

Media reported earlier that Nigerian security forces opened fire on protesters in the south-western city of Lagos on Tuesday, killing several people and leaving many others injured.

Business Insider's regional sister site, Business Insider Africa, has also been following the events in Lagos. You can see its reports on the protests here and here.

How the protests began

Tuesday's protest was part of the weekslong movement against the federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, also known as SARS.

© Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP via Getty Images Patrol cars of the Lagos State Security seen approaching protesters in Lagos, Nigeria, on October 20, 2020. Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP via Getty Images

Demonstrations started two weeks ago after a graphic video showed members of a SARS police unit dragging two men from a hotel in Lagos, and beating them in the streets with clubs, circulated on social media. Business Insider has reviewed the footage and chosen not to republish it.

SARS, which was created as a special police unit in 1992 to deal with crimes associated with robbery and firearms, has long been accused of extrajudicial killings, torture, and extortion.

AP Week in Pictures, Europe and Africa

OCT. 16 - 22, 2020 This photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published by Associated Press photographers in the Europe and Africa regions within the past week. The gallery was curated by AP photo editor Anne-Marie Belgrave in London. Follow AP visual journalism: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews AP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Images AP Images blog: http://apimagesblog.com © Provided by Associated Press A man wearing a face mask to try to curb the spread of coronavirus walks over Westminster Bridge backdropped by the London Eye ferris wheel, on a rainy day in central London, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020.

A protest site that for almost two weeks was a scene of youthful anger at police brutality and hope at the prospect of change was littered and burnt, with smoke They had gone to the protests together for the first time on Wednesday, finally convinced this was a moment for change in Nigeria that often felt

Civilian shot in the head by Nigerian forces during protests against police brutality . Police officer on the run after shooting woman on the mouth in Nigeria . Dirty cop detained and assaulted by mob after shooting truck GRAPHIC: Nigerian Army soldiers execute Boko Haram members in Africa .

In June, Amnesty International published a report that suggested the special unit's officers had carried out unlawful killings, including at least 82 cases of torture, ill-treatment, and extra-judicial execution between January 2017 and May 2020.

After days of anti-SARS protests, the Nigerian government announced on October 11 that SARS had been disbanded.

But protesters remained skeptical of the government's sweeping promises.

Many feared that SARS officers were just being moved to other police squads without any accountability. In many recent protests, people called on authorities to lay out clear timelines on reform.

© Benson Ibeabuchi/AFP via Getty Images Protesters gather at the front of Alausa on October 20, 2020 Benson Ibeabuchi/AFP via Getty Images

Nigeria's crackdown

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who has been silent throughout the protests, called on Nigerians to have patience as police reforms "gather pace" in a Wednesday statement cited by Reuters. He did not address Tuesday night's shootings directly.

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Crowds have taken to the streets of Nigeria in protest against police brutality . The demonstrations come as the government disbanded a controversial security unit accused of misconduct. Rights group Amnesty International said five people had died since the start of the weekend, bringing the

Nigeria is extending curfews beyond the city of Lagos as anti -riot officers struggle to quell violence following protests against police brutality . A 24-hour curfew planned for Lagos, a key commercial hub and Africa ' s most populous city with an estimated 20 million residents, was delayed to allow

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos, contradicted reports that there were many injuries and fatalities, saying that about 25 people had been wounded and just one person had died.

He described the incident as among the "darkest hours from our history as a people" and said that authorities have launched an investigation, according to The Guardian.

Sanwo-Olu also imposed a 24-hour curfew on Lagos on Tuesday night in a bid to end the protests.

Global politicians, actors, and athletes speak out

The protests and clashes have attracted global attention.

US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden issued a statement on Tuesday, calling on Buhari and the Nigerian military to cease the "violent crackdown on protesters in Nigeria."

"The United States must stand with Nigerians who are peacefully demonstrating for police reform and seeking an end to corruption in their democracy," the statement said.

2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also tweeted in support of the protesters, using their movement's hashtags #EndSARS and #StopNigeriaGovernment.

Beyoncé posted a statement on Instagram on Tuesday, saying she was "heartbroken" about what's happening in the country and that she was "working on partnerships with youth organizations to suppose those protests for change."

Opinions | The roots of the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria

Police and military brutality have propped up regimes for more than a century. The massacre at Lekki punctuated more than two weeks of protest of police brutality in Nigeria. The hashtag #EndSARS began trending (again) on social media on Oct. 4. The immediate trigger was a video that showed a SARS officer shooting a young motorist in Ughelli, Delta State, then pushing his body out of the car and driving off with the dead man’s Lexus Jeep. Within days, crowds of young people gathered in Nigerian cities to demand the abolition of SARS.

Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo had stronger words for the Nigerian government, calling it a "shame to the world" in a video posted to Twitter.

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