HURIWA demands protection of protesters in Nigeria

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on Wednesday urged the National Assembly to set up a board for the protection of protesters in the country.

The HURIWA National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, made the call in a statement in Abuja.

He was reacting to the arrest of protesters during the #ENDSARS anniversary rally at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos.

The statement read: “The call for the creation of an independent, autonomous but strong national agency to focus on the promotion of attitudes of positive, democratic and peaceful protests has become increasingly necessary as a way of mainstreaming the democratic virtue of civil protests which are critical elements for the sustenance and survival of Constitutional democracy in the country.

READ ALSO: Lagos Police justifies tear-gassing #EndSARS protesters in Lekki

“The body shouldn’t be another avenue to create jobs for the boys but should be a body to be constituted by less than 36 staff and hierarchy with offices in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.”

The organisation condemned the “medieval mindset of the Nigerian Police and other security agencies towards organisers and participants in civil protests.”

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