MONROVIA – The Council of Patriots has agreed with the call of the international community to delay the protest but says they disagree with the proposed Sunday, January 5, 2020 date; they have therefore, suggested Monday, January 6 for the protest.
At an emergency press conference held on Monday morning at Roots FM, Mr. Henry Costa, the chairman of the Council of Patriots, said he had received a phone call from the UN Resident Coordinator at about 11:45 pm on Sunday informing him that he along with the U.S. Ambassador and the ECOWAS Ambassador had made a case to the government that it was unacceptable for the government to arbitrarily postpone the protest.
“The Council of Patriots wants to make it clear that it has not made any decision to call off the protest, it is the intrusion of our foreign friends which they say they do out of our interest for our safety because of the threat level in our country.”
– Henry Costa, Chairman of the Council of Patriots
However, he said the UN Resident Coordinator said the government had informed him that it does not have the logistics to provide protection for the protest to be held today, therefore coming up with the January 5 as the appropriate date.
“The Council of Patriots wants to make it clear that it has not made any decision to call off the protest, it is the intrusion of our foreign friends which they say they do out of our interest for our safety because of the threat level in our country,” Costa asserted.
Costa said the COP, however, rejects the January 5 date given by the government owing to the fact that it will be the first Sunday in the New Year and would be a sacred day for many Christians.
“If they can protect us on Sunday, they can protect us on Monday,” he said, while suggesting Monday for the protest instead.
The Council of Patriots also rejected the Antionette Stadium as the proposed venue for the protest.
“We also want to state very clearly that we refuse the government’s proposal for us to assemble in a stadium for a protest, never before has there been any protest anywhere in the world they have gathered in an enclosed area. A protest is meant to express grievanes, it’s not meant to gather in a room,” Costa said.