Football stars including Mario Balotelli, Michael Essien, Yannick Bolasie, Ahmed Musa, William Troost-Ekong, Alex Iwobi and Antonio Rudiger have condemned the shooting of peaceful protesters at the Lekki Toll Plaza in Lagos, Nigeria.
Hundreds of unarmed civilians were shot at by soldiers on Tuesday night as they demanded an end to police brutality in the country.
Over the past week, Nigerians have taken to the streets to call their leaders for good governance and express their displeasure against harassment, extra-judicial killings by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) – a unit in the Nigeria Police Force which was recently disbanded.
Prior to the disbandment of the SARS unit a fortnight ago, Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil, Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford were among the players who lent their voices to the protest.
After seeing videos of Tuesday’s shootings circulate on social media with dozens of people injured, the football stars could not hide their emotions and they joined Manchester United’s Odion Ighalo in condemning the government’s actions.
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— Alexander Iwobi (@alexiwobi) October 20, 2020
Pray for Nigeria 🙏 💔💔💔💔💔 stop the killing and no more death 😭😭😭😭😭 #EndSARS #ReformTheNigeriaPolice pic.twitter.com/Lxec3xC9wv
— Kanu Nwankwo (@papilokanu) October 20, 2020
Pray for Nigeria 🙏 💔💔💔💔💔 stop the killing and no more death 😭😭😭😭😭 #EndSARS #ReformTheNigeriaPolice pic.twitter.com/Lxec3xC9wv
— Kanu Nwankwo (@papilokanu) October 20, 2020
God is watching 💔💔 pic.twitter.com/ErthKa426E
— Kelechi Iheanacho (@67Kelechi) October 20, 2020
We stand with Nigeria 🇳🇬 #EndSARS pic.twitter.com/TqBgoRqmFQ
— Christian Atsu (@ChristianAtsu20) October 21, 2020
Shooting innocent protesters? Is this what it has come to now ? This is a sad day 😢 #EndSARS pic.twitter.com/IOZsOI3Ta1
— Carl Ikeme (@Carl_Ikeme) October 20, 2020
Seeing my people suffer like this is heartbreaking 💔😢 right now #CongoIsBleeding we all need to continue to make awareness & do what we can to help, praying for my brothers and sisters #Congo #Nigeria #Africa #EndSARS pic.twitter.com/WV7JFOekIw
— Yannick Bolasie (@YannickBolasie) October 21, 2020
God help us 😭💔 #ENDSARS pic.twitter.com/iXWDOJZF5J
— William Troost-Ekong (@WTroostEkong) October 20, 2020
I don’t know what is going on in Nigeria right now but I pray it all stops because it’s painful seeing innocent people killed daily #EndSARS
— Wilfried Zaha (@wilfriedzaha) October 21, 2020
