The END SARS protests continued in Abuja on Wednesday despite the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, on Sunday.
But the protests turned into chaos when both anti and pro-SARS groups confronted each other.
The protesters had converged at the popular Julius Berger Roundabout in Abuja, blocking traffic with vehicles and chanting ‘End Police Brutality.’
Their presence paralysed vehicular traffic in the popular intersection along the Nnamdi Azikiwe (Ring Road) Expressway which also links the Wuse Districts with the Utako/Jabi Districts.
There was gridlock as impatient motorists made U-turns to avoid getting caught up in the resultant gridlock and many were driving against the traffic.
But they were soon overwhelmed by violent PROSARS supporters, who were mainly hoodlums moved into the capital city to stop the END SARS protesters.
They had arrived the Berger Junction, armed with long sticks, attacking the protesters, breaking car windscreens, mirrors and glasses and chasing everyone away.
People ran helter shelter to escaping the rampaging hoodlums.
This is just as the Biafra separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has hailed Nigerian youths for rising up against Police brutality.
In a statement by IPOB Spokesperson, Emma Powerful, the group stated: “We are happy that at last, the youths of this generation have come to terms with the brutal reality of life in Nigeria which we saw many years back. We warn those unscrupulous individuals and groups who are busy congratulating President Muhammad Buhari the Inspector-General of Police (IGP)” for scraping SARS while Nigerian army, police and other security outfits are still busy shooting and slaughtering innocent protesters in every state of Nigeria.
“Nigeria security personnel are lenient to criminals but brutal to their so-called citizens. It insisted that a look at the video of army brutality published on the social media haldles of our leader will make the most ardent one Nigerians think twice about reciting the national anthem.
“These sycophants congratulating this version of ‘Buhari’ for scrapping SARS should stop doing so because nobody has scraped SARS. What they did was to give it a new name – SWAT. The Nigerian government and the Inspector General of Police simply poured the old wine into a new bottle. This deceit should not be tolerated by any right thinking person.”
IPOB said those congratulating President Buhari and the IGP “for scrapping the criminal unit of the Police are not sincere. The sycophantic congratulations are a mockery of the blood of the innocent victims of SARS and other overzealous security personnel in the country.
“IPOB is calling on all the families of victims of extra judicial killings particularly those killed during the on-going ENDSARS protest to come out and show their grievances to the world, Nigeria Government and to the Police. The protest should continue until the right changes are effected.”
Urging for sustenance of the protests, IPOB said, “Nigerian youths must not relent in fighting these criminals who abandoned all their responsibilities in dealing with armed robbers, kidnapers, ritualists and evil doers and resorted to chasing after innocent people who already encumbered with hardship caused by this present government.”
