Hundreds of petty traders at Waterside were in tears yesterday (Monday) morning following the demolition of their market tables by the City Police of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) in Monrovia.
Those stalls were broken down and cleared off the sidewalks where they were mounted in front of various stores in the densely populated waterside to the surprise of the marketers who went on their usual selling spree yesterday.
As a result of the demolition, the sellers too, dominated by young people (yanna boys and girls) protested by taking to the streets down Waterside chanting “No Table, No Store; No Table No Store.”
Although there was no destruction of private or public properties, but the aggrieved marchers’ agitated posture put fear in store owners whose businesses were opened at the time, to close their doors to avoid the mounting threat by some hoodlums.
Despite the closure, the rampaging yanna boys and girls were not deterred but to peacefully or radically protest which was limited to the Waterside area as state security in plain clothes were posted among them in case of any eventuality.
In a defiant posture, the marketers vowed to sell because their tables that were destroyed were purchased by them in thousands of Liberian dollars and that they also pay for tickets daily as selling fees.
“Whether government likes it or not, we will sell our market. We are frustrated not knowing what to do next. These are some of the things that can cause one to do things that they do not want to do,” a lady in tears stated.
However, it is not yet officially known what prompted the City Police action Saturday night, 28 March while there are reports by eyewitnesses that on Tuesday, 24 March, an unidentified officer of the MCC was allegedly mobbed to death by a group of gangsters at Waterside and abandoned his body on the sidewalk.
The witnesses said during night hours, Waterside becomes a “no go zone” in central Monrovia because gangsters usually hide themselves amongst the market stalls and snatching away personal effects of peaceful people or even go to the extent of attacking law enforcement officers.
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