End SARS

End SARS, widely written as EndSARS or #EndSARS, was a decentralised social movement and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria that mainly occurred in October of 2020. The movement's slogan called for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police known for its long record of abuse against Nigerian citizens. The protests originated from a Twitter campaign in 2017, using the hashtag #EndSARS to demand the unit's disbandment by the Nigerian government. The movement experienced a resurgence in October 2020 following further revelations of the unit's abuses, leading to mass demonstrations across major cities in Nigeria, and widespread outrage on social media platforms. The hashtag #EndSARS accumulated over 28 million tweets on Twitter alone. Solidarity protests and demonstrations by Nigerians in the diaspora and sympathizers occurred in many major cities around the world. Notably, the movement was predominantly led by young Nigerians and expanded to include demands for good governance and accountability, amidst unprecedented hardship in the country. Within a few days of protests, on 11 October 2020, the Nigerian Police Force announced the dissolution of the unit with immediate effect. The move was widely perceived as a triumph for the demonstrators. However, it was noted in many quarters that similar announcements had been made in recent years to placate the public without the unit actually being disbanded, and that the government had merely planned to reassign and review SARS officers to medical centres rather than disband the unit entirely. Protests continued accordingly, and the Nigerian government maintained a pattern of violent repression, including the killing of demonstrators. International demonstrations in solidarity with those in the country occurred, and the movement also grew increasingly critical of Muhammadu Buhari's government response to the protests. SARS officers were alleged to profile young...