Despite the heavy presence of police officers at Lekki Tollgate on Saturday, some protesters have continued to express displeasure over the reopening of Lekki Tollgate.
MDB earlier reported that at least 10 #OccupyLekkiTollGate protesters who converge at the toll plaza were arrested by police.
Read Also: Police Arrest Over 10 #OccupyLekki Protesters (Photos/Videos)
An order to reopen the Lekki toll gate by the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry last Saturday spurred the fresh movement, with the youth rising to resist the reopening.
The youth argued that the reopening of the tollgate is premature as the investigation into the Lekki shooting incident of October 20, 2020, has not been concluded.
The Lekki toll plaza, which has not been operational since the commencement of #EndSARS protest, was completely shut down on night of October 20, 2020, following the shooting of unarmed protesters by officers of the Nigerian army.
In response to #occupyLekkitollgate, some other youth vowed to #DefendLagos, in opposition of the planned protest.
Read Also: #OccupyLekkiTollGate: Police Deployed To Lekki Toll Plaza, Obalende, Other Areas (Photos)
This gave birth to a protest and counter-protest scheduled to hold at Lekki toll gate at 7 a.m. on Saturday.
Several pleas and warnings have been issued by the police, state government, the LCC and other parties, calling on youth not to go ahead with the protest and counter-protest.
Lekki tollgate, which is operated by the Lekki Concession Company, has since Friday been under the protection of police officers, who were drafted there to foil the protests.
Scores of police officers had been at the Lekki tollgate since Friday, to forestall any protest.
Read Also: #OccupyLekkiTollGate: Police Arrest Comedian Mr Macaroni, Others (Video)
No movement of protesters was observed at the tollgate until 7:47 a.m. when some police officers began rushing into their vehicles and heading towards Lekki Phase 1.
Shortly after, few protesters approached the toll gate on foot, with police officers behind them, dragging them into the Black Maria belonging to LCC.
About 13 protesters were arrested and driven to an unknown location in the first set of arrests.
The police officers and security personnel of the LCC also went to nearby streets to arrest people seen, questioning their presence around the tollgate.
Several arrests were made by the police, comprising people who showed up for the protest and those who claim they were merely passing by.
However, after the first wave of arrests, other protesters strolled to the Lekki tollgate in twos and threes, with some insisting on exercising their right to protest.
At least 28 people, including those who claimed to be passersby were arrested at Lekki tollgate as at the time of filing this report.
