MONROVIA – The British Government has issued a travel alert warning its nationals of avoiding protest sites, noting that terrorists are likely to carry out attacks in Liberia.
Report by Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
The attacks, according to the May 5 travel alert, could be indiscriminate, especially at places visited by foreigners.
The warning from the British follows a similar alert from the Canadian Government admonishing its citizens in Liberia to be mindful of their safety and security while traveling to Liberia.
These alerts come ahead of a planned mass protest slated for June 7.
The demonstration, according to the organizers, is intended to demand meaningful reforms that will lead to the improvement of the living standards of Liberans.”
The much-publicized protest dubbed ‘Save The State’ has created mixed reactions amongst Liberians, with many reminiscing the 1979 Rice Riot, the proverbial straw that unleashed 25 years of mayhem, anarchy, destruction and death on Liberians.
But the organizers of the June 7 Protest insist it is intended to be peaceful and not the demand the President George Weah to step down.
“We will do the protest; June 7 is carved in stone. There’s absolutely nobody who can stop it – nobody can stop June 7, you’re wasting your time,” said Henry Costa, a popular talkshow host and one of the organizers of the protest.
He said the Council of Patriots is not willing to negotiate with any government official or its representative for a possible cancellation of the protest.
“We don’t want any meeting with George Weah, we don’t’ want any photo opportunity with George Weah, we’re not interested in any of those things. All we want to do is to come out in our tens of thousands on June 7th to exercise our fundamental and constitutional right to peacefully assemble and petition our government to do x, y, and z,” he said.
According to Costa, the protest would only be naturally called off when President Weah dismisses Samuel Tweah as Finance Minister, replaces Nathaniel Patray as Central Bank Governor, let go of Nathaniel McGill (Minister of State) and take actions that would positively impact governance and the economy.