Liberia seems to be gradually degenerating into madness again, as bloody clashes returned to the streets of the nation’s capital, Monrovia with several persons reportedly victimized.
Amid injuries and several arrests, protesters from the group, Council of Patriots or CoP engaged riot police in a running battle here Wednesday, in defiance of warring from government to keep off the streets without official permit to protest.
Then jubilating crowds from the opposition Liberty Party and their rivals in the governing Coaliton for Democratic Change (CDC) reportedly threw stones at one another in an apparent political violence.
We Liberians should never again embrace violence as a solution to out our current political and economic problems. Instead, we should choose dialogue as the way forward in addressing whatever problem that confronts the Motherland.
We categorically denounce the separate violence on Wednesday, July 31, that has heightened the already hopeless situation facing the nation.
This paper gathered that a senior police officer and several innocent citizens along with some rioters sustained injuries during the unfortunate situation.
No Liberian deserves such ugly acts. Violence has never solved any problem in this country, as we all have learnt, for if this were so, Liberia should be far better by now. No one needs to tell us about the devastating consequences of choosing such route in seeking redress to our grievances.
Protesters may have genuine concerns but violently engaging the authorities could well boomerang or become counter-productive to their prime objective of seeking improved standard of life for the citizenry.
We want solutions to the current dismal state of the economy, coupled with issues of corruption, mismanagement and bad governance. But choosing violence is not the right option.
Rather, we urge the CoP to constructively engage the government for answers to its counts or demands. Member of the Council should test President George Weah’s sincerity about dialogue, as he recently announced.
We strongly believe this is the surest way to finding solutions to the multiple problems engulfing our dear country, not thru violence.
