On Sunday, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, disbanded the special anti-robbery squad and on Monday, he set up the Special Weapons and Tactics Team to replace the disbanded SARS.

In response, #EndSARS campaigners presented five demands to the Federal Government, all of which the latter must fulfill before the protests are suspended.

The campaigners’ five demands include release of all persons arrested by the disbanded police unit and justice for victims of police brutality; setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct (within 10 days); psychological evaluation of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed, and increase police salary so that they can be adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of citizens.

But the protests took a fresh dimension on Wednesday when hoodlums bearing cutlasses and sticks attacked protesters in Lagos and Abuja.

A leader of the protesters, Raphael Adebayo, said five thugs were caught and beaten, adding that they were also taken to hospital for treatment.

“We were attacked by sponsored thugs and they vandalised our cars, but we eventually nabbed four or five of them. After catching them, we beat them very well and they were injured, so, we took them to the National Hospital,” he explained.

Adebayo insisted that the National Assembly would be responsible for the repair of the damaged cars.

He stated, “We are (presently) at the National Assembly to hand over the seven vandalised cars; the Assembly must fix our cars. We will park them there; we are not collecting money from any legislator. Then, tomorrow (Thursday), we will come back and continue our #EndSARS, #EndSWAT, #EndPoliceBrutality protests.”

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