Twitter’s Jack Dorsey Calls for Bitcoin Donations in Nigeria’s EndSars Protest Against Police Brutality
Twitter chief Jack Dorsey has urged his followers to donate Bitcoin to support the protest over police brutality in Nigeria.
Earlier today, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, showed his support for the ongoing #EndSars protest over police brutality in Nigeria.
Dorsey, a Bitcoin proponent, encouraged Bitcoiners to make BTC donations towards the fight against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in the largest black nation.
#EndSars: The Genesis
SARS is a unit of the Nigerian Police Force established in 1992 to protect citizens and curtail the increasingly violent crimes perpetrated by armed robbers.
However, the unit has since derailed from its core objectives. Members of the SARS have become the very thing they were trained to fight.
Both stories from victims and video evidence show SARS officers engaging in brutal acts like “kidnapping, murder, theft, rape, torture, unlawful arrests, high-handedness, humiliation, unlawful detention, extrajudicial killings, and extortion.”
As ridiculous as it sounds, SARS officials profile their suspects based on appearance. Their primary targets are the youths whose only crime is refusing to stay poor even when the corrupt government has failed to provide employment and basic amenities like good health care and electricity.
Those using Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are also targets. An increasing number of Nigerian youths have turned to crypto trading to escape poverty in a failed economy, as highlighted in a previous report.
Driving luxurious cars, wearing nice clothes, having unconventional hairstyles and tattoos, using iPhones and laptops, trading Bitcoin, or making legitimate money from the internet are considered unlawful by SARS members.
#SARSMustEnd
For many years, Nigerian youths remained quiet, hoping that their leaders would end police oppression and brutality in the country. But the so-called democratic government continued to watch in excitement, making one fake promise after the other, without taking any serious actions as SARS continued its cruelty against the youths.
The brutality went from bad to worse, reaching a point where the youths couldn’t take it anymore. Out of rage, the #EndSars campaign started trending on Twitter. The hashtag had over 28 million tweets between Oct 9 and 11.
To support the online campaigns, the youths took to the street to protest, calling the government to take real action and put an end to SARS.
Although the protests were peaceful, the police continued their killing spree as reports show that more than ten protesters have been gunned down. This gives the impression that the brutality is state-sponsored.
Donating Bitcoin
The #EndSars campaign quickly sparked global interest. Crypto companies and figures, including Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Binance’s Changpen Zhao, and Paxful’s Ray Youssef, have lent their voices to the social movement against police oppression in Nigeria.
“Donate via #Bitcoin to help #EndSARS Flag of Nigeria,” Dorsey tweeted, encouraging his followers to support the advocacy group Feminist Coalition in the cause.
At the time of writing, the group has received over N62.6 million (appr $165,000) financial donations in fiat and Bitcoin via its site.
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