#NorthIsBleeding: Security Operatives Must Stop Arresting Protesters, Says Amnesty International

Global rights group, Amnesty International, has called on security agencies including the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services to stop harassing and arresting youths protesting insecurity in Northern Nigeria.

For days, some pockets of youths in some northern states and the Federal Capital Territory have been protesting the worsening security situation in the region.

They demand an immediate end to the kidnappings and killings ongoing in the region and want the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to take decisive steps towards halting the gruesome trend.

But there have been reports of some arrests of the young demonstrators by security agents.

In a string of tweets on Wednesday, Amnesty demanded the release of the young protesters.

The rights group said, “Amnesty International received disturbing reports from Bauchi, Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto and Zaria on arrests and crackdown by the police and the DSS on peaceful protests against rampant insecurity in northern Nigeria.

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“We call on Nigerian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those arrested for exercising the right to freedom of assembly. The DSS must stop using ‘invitations’ to threaten and intimidate protests organizers.

“The protesters have done nothing more than speaking up for accountability. The arrests appear to be an attempt to intimidate and harass those who refused to be silent in the face of government’s failure to protect lives.”

The protests in northern Nigeria followed the EndSARS protests in some states in Southern Nigeria in October 2020, when young campaigners demanded an end to police brutality and extrajudicial killings.

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