TheCable

Blessing Iko, a passerby at the venue of the #EndSARSMemorial protest, says operatives of the Lagos state police command arrested her for holding the Nigerian flag.

Speaking to journalists while in a police van, Iko said the officers seized her two phones and held her in their van.

According to her, the flag was given to her by the bus conductor who asked all passengers to disembark as he approached the Lekki tollgate where the #EndSARSMemorial protest was taking place.

“I boarded a bus going to Iyana Oworo from Ajah then we got to a point and the driver said they could not go further, asked us to come down and refunded money to some of us,” she said.

“He gave me the Nigerian flag to hold, he said once I am with the flag I would be allowed to pass.

“As I was walking, I saw these policemen and they asked me to come inside the vehicle. They said I was protesting and collected my two phones.

“They said the time they gave the protesters had finished that they were supposed to end by 10 am.”

Nigerians took to the streets on Wednesday to commemorate the first anniversary of the #EndSARS protest — of October 2020.

Last year’s protest which ended in chaos was to demand the disbanding of the now dissolved police unit known as the special anti-robbery squad (SARS).

VIDEO: @PoliceNG arrested me, siezed my phones for holding Nigerian flag, says passerby#EndSARSMemorial pic.twitter.com/1nwzcvHvuF

— TheCable (@thecableng) October 20, 2021

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