Armed thugs on Thursday disrupted a protest against police brutality and extortion in Lagos State.
In a video that surfaced online, the thugs were seen with a knife and other weapons.
The thugs, who arrived at the planned venue of the protest at Alausa, caused a commotion in the area.
The PUNCH gathered one of the protesters was injured.
A commuter, who witnessed the disruption, Adebimpe, said, “Some of the protesters are here already with some of us waiting for a bus. When the bus arrived, we were about to enter when we suddenly saw some men with knives and sticks running towards us.
“We all ran to safety. I was later told that they are after #EndSARS protesterS.
There have been protests in most parts of the country since Wednesday last week by Nigerians, mostly youths, who called for disbanding of SARS, accusing the police squad of corruption, high-handedness and harassment
On Sunday, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, disbanded the squad and on Tuesday, he set up the Special Weapons and Tactics Team to replace the disbanded SARS.
Despite the disbanding of the squad, #EndSARS campaigners presented five demands to the Federal Government, which the later on Tuesday said it had accepted.
The campaigners’ five demands include release of all persons arrested by the disbanded police unit and justice for victims of police brutality; setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct (within 10 days); psychological evaluation of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed, and increase police salary so that they can be adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of citizens.
But the protests took a fresh dimension on Wednesday when hoodlums bearing cutlasses and sticks attacked protesters in Lagos and Abuja.