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• Hundreds of people took to the streets in South Africa yesterday to voice their solidarity with Nigerians protesting against the laws enacted known as SARS
• Protests against police brutality are spreading across the most populous country in the continent
Hundreds of people took to the streets in South Africa yesterday to voice their solidarity with Nigerians protesting against the laws enacted known as SARS. The public is demonstrating across Nigeria holding the banner EndSARS. Citizens are complaining that the police is using the provisions of the new law to engage in brutality. In many places, peaceful demonstrations were turned violent, allegedly due to police excesses. Protests against police brutality are spreading across the most populous country in the continent.
Demonstrators draped in the national flag of Nigeria marched to Abuja’s embassy in Pretoria carrying banners reading “End police brutality”. In Cape Town also demonstrations were held. Demonstrators were mostly Nigerian nationals and they insisted on continuing with the demonstrations until the law was withdrawn.
Some of the South African nationals also extended their solidarity to the protests including South African rap star AKA. The South African opposition party- the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)- pledged its “moral and political solidarity” with the Nigerians. The labor unions in South Africa extended their solidarity to the Nigerians. The Congress of South African Trade Unions condemned the crackdown. Later, they urged the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States to send a strong message to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately end crackdown on protesters.
