Protesters under the banner: ‘Students Unification Party (SUP) from the University of Liberia, on Tuesday, April 14, staged what they termed as ‘peaceful protest’ yelping for justice and jobs while decrying the prevalence of what they termed as growing difficulty in the country.
The protest soon grew chaotic when the students moved from their UL campus and began marching towards town, something the police could not allow the protesters to do fearing the usual explosion associated with protests.
The protest focused on unemployment, poverty, and governance issues. It was planned as a peaceful march, with gatherings around key areas like Capitol Hill. Initially, people turned out and began marching.
Officers of the Liberia National Police used tear gas to disperse crowds. There were arrests of some protesters. Critics have raised concerns about excessive use of force by security forces (tear gas) against what was intended to be peaceful demonstrators.
The protest did happen, but it ended in chaos rather than a smooth demonstration thereby raising dust of instability and peace-lessness in the city.
Police Inspector General Gregory Coleman, has reportedly ordered an investigation into the alleged police brutality calling for accountability and transparency.
While protest is allowed under our democratic doctrine, we think it should be done in a peaceable manner, and not that which will reverse normalcy, stability and breed chaos.
It can be historically recalled that protest has never proved to be peaceful since 1979 during the rice riot, which saw the deaths of scores of protesters and looting at a wider scale.
The 1979 Rice Riots were a major turning point in Liberia’s history, happening on April 14, 1979 in Monrovia.
The immediate trigger was a government decision under President William R. Tolbert, Jr. to increase the price of rice, Liberia’s staple food.
The price hike was proposed by then Agriculture Minister Florence Chenoweth. The government claimed it would encourage local rice production, but many citizens believed it would benefit wealthy elites, including officials who owned rice farms.
A protest was organized by opposition leader Gabriel Baccus Matthews, and thousands of people took to the streets in Monrovia.
The protest turned violent after clashes with security forces. It was occasioned by
widespread looting and destruction of businesses while dozens (possibly hundreds) of people were killed.
From these ugly and painful experiences, we think it’s about time we shift from violent approach of doing things since it will only do the state harm than good.