Lagos Rejects ‘Massacre’ Findings About 2020 Protest
- State says leaked findings are “unreliable” and “unacceptable”
- Report said security forces killed 11 protesters in 2020
Demonstrators protest police brutality at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, Nigeria on Oct. 20, 2020.
Photographer: Adetona Omokanye/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
The state government in Nigeria’s largest city rejected an official investigation that concluded security forces shot and killed unarmed protesters last year during demonstrations against police brutality.
A report by a panel of inquiry set up by Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, which was leaked last month, listed 11 civilians that it said had died on Oct. 20, 2020, after soldiers and police officers opened fire. The document said the events at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, one of the main venues for last year’s largely leaderless demonstrations against police brutality, could be described as a “massacre.”