By Precious D. Freeman
Some officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) yesterday, arrested one journalist and some aggrieved family members who were seen protesting at the St. Moses Funeral Parlor around the Topoe Village community in Bardnersville.
Our reporter who was on the scene said that the arrest was made when parents and family members of the three men who allegedly drowned in Bong Mines gathered at the St. Moses Funeral Parlor during the early morning hours demanding the living bodies of their children.
According to our reporter, the journalist who was arrested during the protestation is a freelancer known as Ballack Zayzay and once worked for Hot FM/TV and Bush Chicken online. He was also arrested along with some of the aggrieved family members of the three missing individuals.
Our reporter added that Journalist Zazay along with the aggrieved family members who were arrested during the protestation were later taken to the headquarters of the LNP, as their arrest according to some LNP officers was as the result of “violating the rules of a peaceful assembly as enshrined within the Constitution.”
However, some family members spoken to during the protest said that their children are not dead as been alleged by the St. Moses Funeral Parlor’s proprietor, Moses Ahoussouhe and others.
They further stated that their three boys were all family heads one way or the other and as such, it is a total setback to their respective families, adding, “School is about to open, so who will help pay their children’s fees especially during this economic crisis we are facing?”
One business woman, Hawa Karneh who also got affected as the result of the police action, said that the police were in error to have sprayed tear gas among peaceful protesters of which some of them that were not part of the protest got victimized, noting that her sister further lost track of her two children while trying to escape from the scene.
“The Government of Liberia is not really doing the right thing expected of the citizens, and I regret making George Manneh Weah President of this Country. Though he promised us CHANGE during his campaign but we are yet to see the promised-CHANGE, but instead, there is one calamity to another everyday by protesters everywhere,” Madam Karneh in tears lamented.
Meanwhile, when contacted, the police spokesperson, Moses Carter disclosed that eight protesters including a journalist known as Ballack Zayzay were arrested during the protest incident yesterday, at the St. Moses Funeral Parlor and are currently in police custody at the Liberia National Police (LNP) headquarter.
Carter added that Journalist Zazay was arrested on grounds that he was inciting violence during the time of the protestation according to report received from his officers that were on the protest scene and that the LNP is carefully looking into the matter.