* Mainly peaceful demonstrations began nationwide on Oct. 8
* Amnesty says security forces killed 12 protesters in Lagos
on
Oct. 20
* Violence, looting escalated after security force shootings
* Protest organizers are urging followers to stay off the
streets
By Alexis Akwagyiram
LAGOS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Tears fill Ephraim Osinboyejo's
eyes as he recalls the idealism that drove thousands of
Nigerians like him into the streets to campaign against police
brutality - and the night he saw young activists gunned down.
The 39-year-old businessman says he returned to Nigeria last
year after two decades abroad because he wanted to help his
country. When nationwide demonstrations began on Oct. 8, he
volunteered to manage logistics at the main protest site in
Lagos.
But what began as a largely peaceful movement, driven by
young, tech-savvy activists who used social media to grab global
attention, turned into some of the worst street violence the
country has seen since the end of military rule in 1999.
Police and soldiers enforcing a curfew killed at least 12
people in two Lagos neighbourhoods on Oct. 20, according to
witnesses and rights group Amnesty International. The army and
police denied involvement.
In the following days, crowds set fire to police stations
and government offices. Looting was reported at shopping malls
and government food warehouses. Curfews were imposed on
millions.
Protest organizers, some in hiding, are now urging followers
to stay off the streets and campaign online as police have made
their presence increasingly felt.
"I feel defeated. I feel disappointed. I feel sad,"
Osinboyejo said at the Lekki district toll gate where hundreds
had gathered to protest abuses by a notorious police unit known
as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
Days later, cars were passing through the toll gate as the
protests subsided. The image of a clenched fist daubed onto the
road and a few Nigerian flags lying in a gutter were the only
reminders of the joyful crowds who danced and sang there a week
ago.
'PERFECT STORM'
Protesters and government officials have both said that the
people doing the looting and vandalism are not for the most part
the same people who mobilised against police brutality.
"We completely condemn any form of violence or looting," a
coalition of protest groups said in a statement on Saturday.
Demonstrators accused officials of paying armed gangs to
disrupt peaceful protests - a common tactic during elections,
according to rights groups.
"If people cannot afford basic needs, you have people who
are willing to do anything to get by," Osinboyejo said.
Reuters could not verify the accusation. Videos of
unidentified men attacking demonstrators in Lagos and the
capital Abuja with knives and sticks were shared on social media
early in the protests.
Spokesmen for the Nigeria Police Force and Interior Ministry
did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comment.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu blamed criminal
elements for the unrest, saying "miscreants were hiding under
the umbrella of the protests to unleash mayhem".
Police used live ammunition to disperse crowds in Lagos,
Abuja and Jos, Amnesty International said.
While such shootings may have been the catalyst for
escalating unrest, analysts also point to the parlous state of
Africa's biggest economy.
Some 35% of people aged 15-34 are unemployed. Families
already struggling to put food on the table because of
double-digit inflation also face rising fuel and electricity
costs which the government can no longer afford to subsidize.
"The ingredients for a perfect storm have been there for a
while," said Malte Liewerscheidt, a vice president with New
York-based risk consultancy Teneo.
The violence brought widespread criticism of President
Muhammadu Buhari, with many questioning his control over
security forces and angered by his failure to condemn the
killings in his first speech after the incident. He is in his
final term as president but his All Progressives Congress party
could lose support from young voters. SHOOTING
SARS was disbanded on Oct. 11, but protests persisted with
demonstrators calling for wider law enforcement reforms.
Around 2 p.m. on Oct. 20, news of a round-the-clock curfew
started spreading through the crowd in Lekki, but many decided
to stay, Osinboyejo said.
Around 7 p.m., armed men in army fatigues arrived, he said.
He and other organizers urged demonstrators to kneel down,
wave flags and sing the national anthem, but the men raised
their guns and shot into the crowd, six witnesses told Reuters.
"This place was a war zone," Osinboyejo said. "The gunfire
was relentless ... I didn't think we would see tomorrow."
The army says its forces were not at Lekki that night.
Days later, Nicholas Okpe, 37, lay in a Lagos hospital
wheezing and coughing from a bullet wound to the chest.
An unemployed driver, he said he was collecting litter
dropped at the Lekki protest site when the shooting happened.
For him the campaign is about more than police reforms - it is
about justice.
"Anger is inside our belly. Because many of us don't get
work, we just get frustrated," he said.
The Feminist Coalition - a rights group that raised 147
million naira ($385,000) for the protests through crowdfunding,
said on Thursday it was no longer accepting donations.
It would use any remaining funds to cover medical and legal
bills, and provide financial support to victims of police
brutality.
"We are young Nigerians with hopes, dreams and aspirations
for our country. This means we need to stay alive to pursue our
dreams to build the future," the statement said.
Despite his sadness, Osinboyejo remains optimistic for
Nigeria.
"There are a lot of young people who have come together, for
the first time maybe, to say they will not stand by and watch
their country burn," he said, choking back tears.