A tense standoff between riot officers of the Liberian National Police and protesters near the headquarters of the former ruling Congress for Democratic Change in Congo Town outside Monrovia left thousands of commuters and pedestrians stranded on Monday, August 6, 2024.
A combined group of CDC supporters and dismissed Executive Protection Service (EPS) officers protested before the CDC headquarters, demanding salary and benefits.
The dismissed EPS presidential guards had challenged their dismissal by the Boakai administration, demanding benefits for the period they served or to be reinstated.
The protest, initially peaceful, later escalated when some demonstrators saw the arrival of riot police and threw stones at the officers who came to manage the situation.
Protesters during the incident accused the police of bias, claiming that the ruling Unity Party government had sent the force with hostile intent. They alleged that the government has a history of violence against CDC members, and this incident was not the first instance of police aggression. They also warned of potential retaliation if police continued to use force.
However, tensions rose further when protesters tried to break through police lines, resulting in a brief but intense standoff characterized by disruption of traffic flow and heated exchanges with sporadic scuffles between demonstrators and the police.
During the standoff, a police officer was heard directing his colleagues to use force, if necessary, to remove the blockade off the main route that leads to central Monrovia.
However, the situation was eventually brought under control, but not before significant unrest had occurred.
The CDC condemned the police response, accusing them of employing heavy-handed tactics aimed at harming their political leader, former President George Manneh Weah.
In a press briefing shortly after the confrontation, CDC Secretary General and former city Mayor Jefferson Koijee denounced the government's actions as a threat to Mr. Weah's safety.
Koijee claimed that President Boakai was aware of the protest and criticized the police intervention as an indication of a hidden agenda against the CDC.
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According to him, the ruling Unity Party's actions had become institutionalized, and he warned that the CDC would take measures to protect its members and headquarters in the future.
The CDC vowed to prioritize their members' safety and promised to resist any further police attempts to interfere with their activities.
Tension has heightened in the country after the current administration commissioned a compliance audit whose results have led to the arrest and suspension of several former officials from the Weah administration that the former President himself has described as a witch-hunt, vowing to resist very strongly. Editing by Jonathan Browne
