09/26/2020 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – There have been protests in Nigeria against police brutality over the past month. These protests have used the # ENDSARS slogan that was started back in 2017 as their headliner. SARS stands for the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. This specialized group of the Nigerian National police force was known to have used excessive force in many of their operations. The protests restarted earlier this month and quickly saw possible results. On October 11, the Nigerian Government said that they would be disbanding the SARS units.
Despite this seeming quick success, the protests have faced increasing violence by the government. Many have also stated that the government has promised many times before to disband the units, but has still not done so. There have been numerous deaths due to these protests and the polices crackdown on them.
Now, according to Morningstar News, the violence has turned against the church as well. The report lists at least seven separate churches that have been damaged or destroyed due to prayer walks that the congregations were taking or their proximity to ongoing protests. The report claims that these attacks were conducted by Muslim agitators, but does not say what the reason for the attacks was. They also list numerous deaths of Christians in connection with these attacks. Please pray for a peaceful end to these protests and attacks to come soon.
For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org.
