Some Nigerian celebrities and group of youths held a memorial car procession of #EndSARS protest at the Lekki toll gate on Wednesday.
Hundreds of youths and celebrities of which majority were all in cars and bus tops holding placards and the Nigerian flag in which they were waving and chanting songs of solidarity in remembrance of last year’s #EndSARS protest.
The commemoration protest began at the early hours of 8am, the youths drove round the toll gate. As the crowd began to expand, some came down from their cars blowing various horns.
After some while the Lagos State police personnels fired tear gas at the protesters to disperse the crowd.
According to some viral videos the police were seen harassing and chasing away some journalist from the scene of protest.
A video posted online by Channels television during an interview with the Lagos State police commissioner Hakeem Odumosu, said that the police did not disperse the youths taking part in the procession.
Hakeem noted that the security operatives fired tear gas to disperse those he described as miscreants at the venue.
“We did not fire canister to disperse protesters,” he said.
The commissioner hinted that there was a prior agreement with the organisers of the protest to not hold the protest on foot that everyone has to be in a car.
“we (police and protest organizers) agreed that they need to move in vehicles, not on foot. They can blare their horns, they can wave their flags, they can display their posters, no problem.”
He added that,
“ they are not to be on foot, and we agreed that they won’t come down from their vehicle to address anybody; that is where people will start coming in and converging.”