Although the objective of the ongoing protest in Hongkong, the commercial city of China is quite different from the #EndSARS protest in Nigeria. However, the #EndSARS protest in Nigeria has certain features that can be linked to that of the Hongkong protest.
This really interpreted that although humans might be different in color but the illustrated narrative of the quest for freedom is a universal clamor as the act of oppression is embedded in humans, not race nor color. As Gbemisola Adeoti put it, “the act of shaving a man’s head in his absent.”
Like Hongkong, Lagos which is also the commercial city of Nigeria is the epicenter of the #EndSARS protest in Nigeria. Aside from the commercial influence that both Hongkong and Lagos shared, both cities have the highest number of human rights advocates and freedom of expression, based on media presence.
Police Brutality
One of the major factors that contributed to the escalation of the protest in the two cities is police brutality. Hongkong protest was against an extradition law that will allow Hongkong people to be extradited to Mainland China.
The bill was withdrawn in September 2019 but the protest continues, the people now demand full democracy and an inquiry into police brutality.
There were reports of violent clashes between the police and the activists. The police are said to have fired live bullets and protesters have attacked police with petrol bombs.
Although #EndSARS protest was against police brutality in Nigeria, but while the people were protesting, there were reports of police brutality.
On October 20, 2020, Amnesty International said it has received “credible but disturbing evidence of excessive use of force occasioning deaths of protesters at Lekki toll gate in Lagos”, adding that it was investigating the killings.
The group further added that at least, 12 people were killed, claiming that the death toll was likely to be higher.
The Human Right Watch also confirmed the security forces shot at protesters, calling it a “shooting spree”.
Protests still continue in Hongkong and Lagosians will not forget the October 20 Lekki shooting, just like June 12, 1993, general election keeps resonating.
Protesters in the cities made same number of demands
Both protesters in Hongkong and Lagos made five demands from their government, some of them were met while others kept dominating the center of the advocacies.
For instance, the Hongkong protesters demanded: “for the protest not to be characterized as riot; Amnesty for arrested protesters; an independent enquiry into alleged police brutality; implementation of complete universal suffrage and withdrawal of the extradition bill, which has been met.”
Comparatively, #EndSARS protesters demanded “immediate release of arrested protesters; justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families; setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct (within 10 days); psychological evaluation and retraining of all disbanded SARS officers before their redeployment; lastly, increment of police salary.”
Although some of the demands have been met in both countries, the protests continue as the people do not trust their government.
Global Response
Both the protests in Hongkong and Lagos have attracted global response due to the media coverage, economic status of the cities, bad record of human rights violation of the countries where the two cities are found.
The Hongkong movement has attracted supporting protest across the globe, with rallies taking place in the UK, France, US, Canada and Australia.
Like the Hongkong movement, the #EndSARS movement has also gathered support across the globe. Rallies were staged in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Ireland, Germany, South Africa and many Nigerians and international celebrities participated in the protest, in person and on social media.
