Police disperse #EndSARS memorial in Lagos with tear gas — Premium Times Nigeria
Police in Lagos, Nigeria, used tear gas near the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, preventing participants in a memorial for victims of the #EndSARS protests from carrying out the planned wreath-laying ceremony. This was reported by Premium Times Nigeria.
Memorial event disrupted
The event was organized by the Enough is Enough movement. According to The Punch newspaper, city residents, journalists and political figures had gathered at the site when police officers began firing tear gas canisters. Among those affected by the gas, the outlet named Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the African Democratic Congress candidate for governor of Lagos State, and Funso Doherty of the Nigerian Democratic Congress.
According to The Punch, footage shows participants trying to move to safety as the gas spread across the area. A Premium Times correspondent who arrived at the Lekki Toll Gate at 11:15 saw police officers there but did not find the organizers. He also smelled tear gas but was unable to establish its source.
Wreaths for the dead and missing
The organizers planned to begin the ceremony at 11:00 and lay 15 wreaths. Nine of them were to be dedicated to people included on the list of those killed in connection with the events at the Lekki Toll Gate, while four were for missing persons believed to be dead. One additional wreath was intended for journalist Pelumi Onifade, and another for other unidentified victims.
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The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre human rights organization said that, following the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, allegations against police of brutality, torture, extortion, unlawful detention and extrajudicial killings had not stopped. The organization called on the authorities to investigate claims of abuse, hold responsible officials accountable and strengthen civilian oversight of the police.
CAPPA called on Nigeria’s federal government and the Lagos State authorities to apologize for the shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate, conduct an independent investigation and provide compensation to those affected. In July 2025, the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the inspector general of police and the state’s then police commissioner to pay 10 million naira in compensation to participants in the October 20, 2024 memorial march whose rights, according to the court ruling, had been violated.
The #EndSARS protests began in Nigeria in October 2020 with demands to end police violence, including abuses linked to the SARS unit. The shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, became one of the defining events of the protest movement.
