Black Lives Matter co-founder urges Nigeria to free jailed police protesters

By Libby George
LAGOS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - A group of activists and
celebrities, including a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter
movement, have signed an open letter to Nigeria's president
demanding that he hold accountable security personnel accused of
shooting anti-police brutality protesters.
The letter, published in the New York Times on Thursday to
mark International Human Rights Day, comes nearly two months
after what witnesses and Amnesty International say was a fatal
clash in Lagos between peaceful protesters and military and
police. The military and police deny shooting protesters.
The demonstrators had called for an end to police brutality
and a much-hated unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad
(SARS).
Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi, 36, an American
with Nigerian parents, organized the letter after watching the
protests descend into violence. Tometi said she has friends and
family in Nigeria, but said it was not difficult to get others
to sign on.
"We care about the issues of police brutality no matter
where they're occurring," she told Reuters in an interview on
Wednesday. "The violence that people have been met with is
intolerable."
Spokesmen for President Muhammadu Buhari did not immediately
respond to a request for comment. Police disbanded SARS on Oct.
11, and the government asked each state to form judicial panels
to investigate claims of brutality.
But protesters have outlined a campaign of harassment since
the shootings, and some still do not know what happened to their
missing friends and family.
The letter, signed by supporters including climate change
campaigner Greta Thunberg, also asks the government to release
jailed protesters, lift a ban on protests and allow an
independent human rights monitor investigation into "the actions
that led to the killings at Lekki Toll Gate."
"People are missing and people have died as a consequence of
speaking out," Tometi said. "We will not abide it."