A year after Lagos bloodshed, Nigerians say police reform promises prove hollow

Adebanjo Akinwunmi raises his flags as Nigeria marks the first anniversary of the EndSARS anti-police brutality protests in Lagos, Nigeria October 16, 2021. Picture taken October 16, 2021. REUTERS/Nneka Chile

LAGOS (Reuters) - One year ago, Adebanjo Akinwunmi gleefully waved a Nigerian flag at the Lekki Toll Gate, a stretch of tarmac in front of toll booths on a highway on the outskirts of Lagos. Joined by thousands of his countrymen, he demanded an end to what demonstrators said was endemic police brutality.

But the ebullient protests, which had taken place in cities across the nation of some 200 million, ended at the toll gate in a hail of gunfire.