MONROVIA – Three days of mass peaceful protest against rape without any tangible action or word from the Liberian President, has left President George Manneh Weah under a barrage of criticisms though he prides himself as the ‘Feminist-in-Chief’ of Liberia.
Thursday marked the third day of anti-rape protest with the anticipation of the protestors that President Weah would meet with them and receive their petition statement which they had been bent on delivering to him in person since Tuesday.
Things got ugly on Thursday morning when officers of the Police Support Unit (PSU), a paramilitary unit of the Liberia National Police (LNP), began to stop the protestors from gathering at Vamoma Junction where they gathered on the first two days of the protest for their onward march to the Capitol Hill.
The protestors were barred from using the Tubman Boulevard; they were diverted to the Airfield Road while the majority were completely stopped from crossing Vomoma Junction forcing them to gather at Fish Market, opposite the residence of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The police in their quest to stop the protestors from using the Tubman Boulevard carried out random arrest, brutalized protestors and chased the crowd into nearby communities.
This left several protestors disenchanted and disappointed in the police and drew several condemnations.
Veda Ayele Nyoth Simpson, in a live Facebook declared: “We are unprotected, Thursday in Black”.
Madam Simpson explained: “Just for peacefully assembling, they are saying we are making Liberia ugly. This is the police that supposedly sworn to serve and protect – and instead of protecting, they are threatening, they are harassing. We have young people who are here just to speak for their rights and to talk and to talk about what’s going on in this country. Rape is an epidemic in Liberia, there needs to be a state of emergency on rape in Liberia, we are truly unprotected, if the police cannot protect us, Thursday in Black, we are unprotected.”
Police were also accused of seizing cellphones from protesters: “He (a police officer) threatened me, if he does not give me my phone I will go to the court of law,” a protester lamented.
“Rape has always been a problem, it was before my administration, it was in my administration and it’s still with us today. The women, given the kinds of cases that have recently come up – young babies, three months old, young children, 10 years old violated, sometimes, by old men, sometimes by young men, is something that the women felt they had to act and they had to act in a manner in which one does in peaceful protest.”
– Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Former President
‘Silly Arrests’
Mr. Larmii Kpargoi an attorney-at-law, known for his advocacy for social justice, condemned the police for the arrest the peaceful demonstrators.
Mr. Kpargoi who is currently in the United Kingdom commented on Facebook:
“Arresting and brutalizing people who are protesting against rape is quite a silly thing to do. Do the authorities realize that it sends a very bad message? There are certain things that are best allowed to run their course even if you disagree with the way they are being done.
“As serious as rape is, I don’t think that a protest against it will solve our chronically bad criminal justice system. We have to have a strong stand against the fact that the system does not work. It has to be a protest against the system as a whole. We have to demand that crimes stop being a fashionable part of our society.”
As part of the petition submitted to the Legislature for an increase budgetary allocation in the FY 2020/2021 budget, and subsequent budgets for Criminal Court “E” (Rape Court); and to facilitate the strengthening of the judicial system for speedy trial of rape and other Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) cases including the hiring of more judges to hear and determine rape and SGBV cases in a speedy and expeditious manner.
Kimmie Weeks, a youth activist also commented on Instagram: “The order and directive to the police to arrest young people protesting against rape is sad and unfortunate. These protests are not against government but an ill in society. It’s not about being pro government or anti-government, but against
rape. It sends the wrong message to would be rapist that society so endorses what they are doing that the police is arresting those who speak against it. Somebody in the government needs to rethink this.”
‘A Big Shame’
Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee being appalled with the action of the LNP descended hard on the Weah-led administration for the stance of the police against the demonstrators, describing the police action as a clampdown on peaceful protestors.
Gbowee is known for her unwavering stance when it comes to speaking truth to power.
She added that the incident amounts to a “big shame on the Weah-led government”.
She noted that it is unimaginable for government to use force on armless citizens who peacefully gathered against the unprecedented increase in the number of rape cases in the country.
She wrote on her official Facebook page: “I woke up this morning to news of the government of Liberia clamping down on the peaceful protest organized by young people against the pervasive rape culture in Liberia. This is sick, appalling, and a big shame on the Weah-led administration”.
“To teargas and use violence on a peaceful gathering led by women against a pandemic is beyond unimaginable”.
Aligning With Political Godfather
Madam Gbowee further blasted at the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Williametta Saydee-Tarr for not doing enough to protect the most vulnerable people in the country.
She maintained that there was no need for thousands of citizens to jump in the streets and protest against increase in rape cases if Minister Tarr was working in the interest of vulnerable people.
“I call out Minister Piso Saydee Tarr. Shame on you! Your job demands that you protect the most vulnerable population of Liberia, but you have chosen to align with your political godfather.
“Minister Tarr, who plays politics with the tearing of a three-year-old vagina? To say I am mad would be putting it mildly. I am angry, infuriated, boiling inside… if you had done your job void of politics we won’t be where we find ourselves. Sad, sad, sad”.
“I woke up this morning to news of the government of Liberia clamping down on the peaceful protest organized by young people against the pervasive rape culture in Liberia. This is sick, appalling, and a big shame on the Weah-led administration. To teargas and use violence on a peaceful gathering led by women against a pandemic is beyond unimaginable”.
– Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Laureate
There Was Need to Protest
Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who co-received the Nobel Peace Prize along with Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen met with the protestors who had gathered opposite her residence to show support for the protest.
The trio were awarded the prestigious Peace Prize “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”.
Madam Sirleaf told newsmen on Thursday that rape has always been a major problem in Liberia that needs to be addressed.
“Rape has always been a problem, it was before my administration, it was in my administration and it’s still with us today. The women, given the kinds of cases that have recently come up – young babies, three months old, young children, 10 years old violated, sometimes, by old men, sometimes by young men, is something that the women felt they had to act and they had to act in a manner in which one does in peaceful protest,” she said.
Former President Sirleaf told reporters who followed her into her residence that she could not sit and watch the women from her compound without showing solidarity for an issue that has always been of national concern.
“I cannot sit in my house, stay in my yard, see all those women out there demonstrating for something that is good for the country and not go there to show solidarity with them. So, my idea was to just go across sit with them, talk with them to make sure that they keep the peace that we fought [for] when I was President in all those years; to tell them we don’t want to see any violence,” she said.
Misconstruing the Protest
Ms. Moriah Yekoulah, special assistant to Mr. Alexander B. Cummings, Chairman of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) expressed dismay on Facebook over the government’s understanding of the demonstration against rape.
She lamented: Over the last few days, this government and its officials have labeled the anti-rape protest organized by young Liberians as ‘political’. They simply meant ‘opposition’ because ‘political’ is now their code name for ‘opposition’. Everything is ‘political’ once it’s not planned or organized by this government. Their #IAMBLUE campaign against rape wasn’t ‘political’ because opposition wasn’t a part since it was just them. Yet, when young people decide to take a stance against rape and SGBV given the very high number of cases and the egregious nature of these cases, they claim it is ‘political’”
She noted that there have been several attempts to disrupt the protest during the first two days. “Throwing of stones by CDCians led by Wen Sailey on DAY 1 when Sen. Dillon passed thru despite the fact that other lawmakers were present, and throwing of stones on DAY 2 by men believed to be from Jefferson Koijee CDC Sabu Unit. On both days, the police protected the protestors. So, since they were unsuccessful, they decided to use the joint security today [Thursday],” she alleged.
She added: “The unfortunate decision to deploy the joint security with weapons to disrupt the 3rd day of the protest, beat, disburse, teargas and arrest protestors was simply because y’all feel INSULTED that these young people refused to give their petition to the Gender Minister and her clique but requested that the President himself comes to receive their petition.”