While Liberia was bent on celebrating its 175th independence, several members of the Student Unification Party (SUP) were being brutalized thereby sustaining serious and minor bodily injuries while several others were humiliated.
The student-based group had organized to stage a peacefully announced protest dubbed “Fix the Country” but that protest was greeted by resistance from thugs believed to be sent by members of the ruling party.
According to the report, SUP gathered on the morning of Tuesday, July 26, 2022 before the US Embassy near Monrovia to proceed to the Centennial Memorial Pavilion, where the indoor program of Independence Day was taking place.
The group was due to present a position statement to government authorities and foreign partners on what it termed as growing corruption and other negative vices in the public sector.
While the students’ were gathering to initiate their “Fix the Country” campaign which aimed to denounce all forms of bad governance, including corruption, poverty, insecurity, and the dire state of infrastructure, the Coalition for Democratic Change-Council of Patriot (CDC-COP) loyal to the ruling establishment violently infiltrated the student group, thus wounding several of the campaigners.
Video footage on social media shows a member of the student group, Christopher “Walter Sisulu” Sivili, stripped naked and dragged mercilessly; something which has drawn the attention of several Liberians including Civil Society actors.
The National Civil Society Council of Liberia (NCSCL) was the first to condemn the ill-treatment meted against protesting students in a statement following the bloody riot.
The NCSCL described the action of the CDC-COP as a looming threat to the current peace and stability the country current enjoys pointing out, “The Council sees the action of the CDC-COP as a looming threat which came as a result of huge sacrifices made by Liberians and the International Community, who spent billions of dollars of their taxpayers’ money in bringing peace.”
According to the statement issued under the signature of the Chairperson of the Council, Loretta Pope Kai, the Council said the action of the CDC-COP contravenes Articles 15 and 17 of the Liberian Constitution, which call for the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly through responsible manner, and as such, the government must take the courage to investigate.
The Opposition Alternative National Congress (ANC) also strongly condemned what it calls ‘unprovoked violent attack, torture and humiliation’, on peaceful protesting students of the University of Liberia.
ANC therefore calls on the Ministry of Justice to immediately order a full investigation and the arrest and prosecution of Jefferson Koijee, Ben Believe Toba, Poker Roberts, Abdulrahman Barrie, and others, for the violent attacks on peaceful protesting students.
The Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding (CEMESP) also added to the many condemnations terming the violence meted out against protesting students on July 26 as barbarous act of thugs led by a known partisan of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change.
The CEMESP said there can be no justification for anyone to be brutalized by thugs for expressing their views regardless of how their opponents feel and therefore this act must be responded to forcefully by government if the impression that it was state sponsored is to be avoided.
The group noted that the violent act which went unchallenged by the police and other state security agents was reminiscent of similar actions carried out during Liberia’s civil war and its many years of dictatorships.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Coalition (NDC) termed the brutal attack on the wicked George Weah CDC dictatorship against the courageous University of Liberia student community for organizing and leading the ‘Fix Our Country’ Campaign during the 175th anniversary of Liberia’s Independence.
The statement under the signature of its National Chairperson with approval by the political leader, the opposition political party, NDC said the shameful reaction of government on the Fix Our Country campaigners is a clear indication that Weah’s administration will not perform or cooperate to improve the conditions of the Liberian people.
“It is therefore time for Weah to leave. So, Weah must go! If blood has become the only acceptable price for freedom, peace, social justice, and development in Liberia, the University of Liberia students, under the formidable and fearless leadership of SUP have made the ultimate sacrifice. Weah must go!,” NDC supposed.
“The choice to express constitutional rights is not cowardice. The desire for peace in Liberia is not cowardice. The determination to remove the Weah government from power through the ballot box is what the democratic and progressive forces fought for with their lives,” the party stated.
The different groups of concern therefore call on the government through the Liberia National Police (LNP) to launch an investigation and bring those human rights violators to justice.
They averred that Liberians cannot afford seeing their country plunge into another political brouhaha as a result of injustices upon peaceful citizens by so-called favor-seeking individuals.
They also called on the International Community and Liberia’s development partners to promptly intervene into this looming danger that has the propensity to derail the progress made.
However, the Weah-led Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) also expressed condemnation in the strongest possible terms these alleged acts of brutality committed by lawless elements and wants the Liberia National Police to launch a speedy investigation on all sides to determine the facts and to bring the culprits to justice
“We use this medium to encourage the combined political opposition to confront the CDC-led government more openly if they will, rather than hiding behind members of the student community to portray a false sense of governance dysfunction,” the ruling party stated.
