Liberia – Supporters of the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) are expressing outrage over the invasion of their party headquarters by officers of the Liberian National Police. The party’s partisans are calling on the international community to intervene and urge the police to refrain from further provocations that could lead to unrest.
CDC Secretary General Jefferson Koijee condemned the police’s actions, asserting that their heavy presence at the party headquarters was intended to intimidate rather than reassure. Speaking to reporters, Koijee warned that the situation was escalating and that the CDC would not tolerate such actions. “The presence of heavily armed riot police on our grounds is nothing but a bluff,” he stated, emphasizing that the CDC is a registered political party that operates within the confines of the law and has no intention of engaging in covert activities.
Koijee recalled a previous incident when police fired into the CDC headquarters during the first administration of the Unity Party (UP), resulting in the death of one partisan. He vowed that such violence would not happen again and urged the international community to act to prevent bloodshed in the country.
Earlier this morning, police officers, heavily armed, entered the CDC headquarters without specifying their intentions. Sources close to the operation indicated that the police were there to deter a planned demonstration by former officers of the Executive Protection Service (EPS), who were recently dismissed by the government of President Boakai. These former officers have threatened to protest in the streets to demand payment of their salaries. The rationale behind the police’s focus on the CDC headquarters remains unclear, raising concerns about the potential for escalating tensions in an already volatile political climate.
