Articles

Political reactions to the aftermath of the November 7 riots at the offices of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), leaving one person dead, have sent fears within the police force, according to one top senior officer who spoke to this paper on condition of anonymity.

“If the rioters had broken lose outside the area in which they were contained, elections would have been cancelled. Monrovia would have been sent back in looting sprees and far more deaths would have occurred. My men feel betrayed and they are now weakened. If a similar incident takes place, I fear in action because they do not want to go to jail.”

“My men are now living in fear. They feel that they have been weakened by the politicians. If anything happens now, God forbids,” a senior police officer said, his voice fading as he bowed his head, his hands folded in despair.

“The last time we acted to protect public safety, lives and property, by guaranteeing violent youths, the politicians came after us with punishment. Now, you don’t know what to do when a violent man approaches with life threatening object or a looting killer mob descends. If you defend yourself, the political parties claim human rights violations. What about our human rights, the oath we took to defend society against the lawless?” the office, on condition of anonymity, asked.

“If we had not nipped that CDC riots in the butt, the consequences would have been grave. The intelligence we are getting now is that they would start burning and looting Monrovia that Monday running into Tuesday. Any dream of elections would be just that—a dream. These guys didn’t want election,” the middle age office said.

“One of our officers, a close friend of Mr. (George) Weah, called him up. ‘George, you can’t do this…’ He told the officer he could not control the mob. After that, he fled from the scene as the riot spread. I think he should have taken responsibility, both he and Mr. Winston Tubman, for the action…”

The officer said the fear level within the police now is very high and that the morale of police officers is dropping.

“If there is a riot or crisis now, I can tell you this. It will be a mess. The men and women are afraid to get inaction for fear of going to jail. They could just stand by and let them. With the intelligence we are getting, such as some of their most violent members, ex-rebel commanders, coming down from Grand Gedeh and elsewhere, this is serious. I am scare, too…”

The CDC and the police are now engaged in exchanges over the police entering the ‘crime scene’, the CDC compound. The officer said the party has sent a written list of preconditions, amongst them that the police should not enter the premises in uniforms.

“This is strange. As a police officer, I have not heard of anywhere where police are denied access to a crime scene in such a manner. These people seem to be running a separate country…”

Since the riots, the UNMIL checkpoints have re-emerged again in Monrovia, with soldiers searching cars carefully looking for weapons. During the riots, some were heard saying, “our supplies are coming…”

But the Government fear of sinking into the past of its predecessors and eager to avoid human rights abuse charges are factors sending signals of a weakened police force unable to take on violent youths operating with the protection of a political party.

“These people had one intent. To stop the election and in the process extensively loot the city. For weeks, they had been heard saying that ‘Red Light is pregnant. It must deliver.’ They wanted to loot the city and if the riots had extended to other parts, it would have been hell. More people would have died. And it would have been too late…”