Martin Luther King’s daughter, Alicia Keyes, Danny Glover, 57 Other Slam FG
Several global activists and celebrities have criticized the federal government.
Celebrities and activists lashed out at the Nigerian government Thursday for brutally crushing peaceful #EndSARS protesters against police brutality two months ago.
In an open letter addressed to the President of Nigeria, Major General Muhammad Bukhari (ret.) And released in Lagos on International Human Rights Day, 60 activists condemned the government for “unjustified force against its own unarmed citizens.”
In letters sponsored by Diaspora Rising, which describes itself as a defense agency created to strengthen “ties between members of the global black family,” activists called for the release of imprisoned protesters, as well as bringing to justice the security personnel responsible for the shooting of civilians in Lagos.
They also called on the government to lift the ban on public demonstrations.
The signatories included Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter Bernice King; US activist Opal Tometi, actors Danny Glover and Kerry Washington, young Swedish eco-warrior Greta Thunberg, singer Alicia Keys, civil rights activist Angela Davis, US MP Ilhan Omar and Nigerian American rapper. Jidenna.
Tometi, co-founder of the US Black Lives Matter movement and founder of Diaspora Rising, described Nigeria’s response to the protests as “Very shameful.”
“Instead of appearing next to (people), the government went to suppress them, it went to suppress the protest and suppress it,” he said.
Amnesty International reported that at least 10 people were shot dead by security forces during a protest at a toll collection point in Lecchi, the epicenter of demonstrations, in Lagos on 20 October.
But the military denied firing live shots, arguing that the soldiers fired blanks only at the crowd that had gathered despite the curfew.
However, Nigerian authorities said more than 100 people, including 43 security personnel, were killed across the country after days of street protests.
Nigeria’s central bank last month blocked the accounts of some #EndSARS activists, while security forces still illegally detained some protesters.
