A GROUP of young Nigerians who embarked on an all-night vigil to demand an end to police brutality against youths across the country has accused the Police in Lagos of subtle attempts to frustrate their protest.

The group, using a Twitter handle known as Concerned Nigerians, alleged that while the protesters kept vigil from Thursday to Friday at the Lagos State House of Assembly in Alausa area of  Ikeja, the police launched subtle attacks to dislodge them.

“The Lagos State government asked their officials to switch off the street lights around the State House of Assembly, Alausa where Nigerians are keeping vigil so the Police can arrest, harass and detain the #EndSars protestors. This is callous, inhuman, and thoughtless,” the tweet read.

Debo Adebayo, a Nigerian comedian, and actor, popularly known as Mr. Macaroni who led the protest, shared that they were still out as of 4 am and their grievances were being ignored.

In a video clip, Macaroni was seen demanding to speak to the governor or any top official to present their demands.

However, while waiting to gain an audience with the State Governor or any of his representatives,  the canopies under which the protesters were sheltering were taken away by some policemen.

Some of the protesters also took to social media to reveal that they were being threatened as their cars were towed away by state officers.

In response, Adejobi Olumuyiwa, Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command tweeted that no police officer would launch any attack on peaceful protesters.

Olumuyiwa, however, in another tweet emphasised that violent protest would be resisted.

“Any violent protest will be resisted fully according to the provisions of the law,” his tweet read.

The #EndSars protest was rekindled following an attack on a young boy in Delta State, who was said to have been shot by a police officer during the #EndSars protest.

A viral video clip showing the boy’s injured leg was shared on Twitter, sparking outrage among Nigerians, driving the online and offline protest.

On Thursday, youths in Abuja, Lagos, Delta, and Osun states marched out en masse to demand the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

Some Nigerian celebrities including Runtown, Falz, Tiwa Savage, and Toke Makinwa also joined the protest in Lagos.

While Nigerians keep demanding an end to police brutality, Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector General of Police, announced the suspension of the Special Tactical Squads (STS) from routine patrols.

With this ban, the Police personnel are to desist from, “carrying out routine patrols, and other low-risk duties – stop and search duties, checkpoints, mounting of roadblocks, traffic checks, etc. with immediate effect.”

In the most recent reaction, Nigerian Senators on Wednesday condemned the misconducts of operatives of SARS.

This followed a motion by Oluremi Tinubu, the Senator representing Lagos Central,  on the need to check the culture of brutality by security operatives against Nigerians.

“SARS members are agents of corruption. They extort money from innocent people and lock people up arbitrarily. They are not VIOs; they will go ahead to ask for a driving license. That is not their function. They must face their functions,” said George Sekibo representing Rivers East senatorial district.

“SARS has turned back against the nation. This is the right time to do something about them.”