Armed thugs on Thursday disrupted a protest against police brutality and extortion in Lagos State .
In a video that surfaced online , the thugs were seen with a knife and other weapons .
The thugs, who arrived at the planned venue of the protest at Alausa, caused a commotion in the area .
A commuter, who witnessed the disruption , Adebimpe , said, “ Some of the protesters are here already with some of us waiting for a bus . When the bus arrived, we were about to enter when we suddenly saw some men with knives and sticks running towards us.
“ We all ran to safety . I was later told that they are after # EndSARS protesters. ”
There have been protests in most parts of the country since Wednesday last week by Nigerians , mostly youths, who called for disbanding of SARS , accusing the police squad of corruption, high-handedness and harassment
On Sunday , the Inspector -General of Police , Mohammed Adamu , disbanded the squad and on Tuesday , he set up the Special Weapons and Tactics Team to replace the disbanded SARS .
Despite the disbanding of the squad , # EndSARS campaigners presented five demands to the Federal Government , which the later on Tuesday said it had accepted.
The campaigners ’ five demands include release of all persons arrested by the disbanded police unit and justice for victims of police brutality ; setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct ( within 10 days ); psychological evaluation of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed , and increase police salary so that they can be adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of citizens.
But the protests took a fresh dimension on Wednesday when hoodlums bearing cutlasses and sticks attacked protesters in Lagos and Abuja .
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