JamzNG Latest News, Gist, Entertainment in Nigeria
What was meant to be peaceful protest by public school students here turned chaotic Tuesday, when riot officers from the Liberia National Police fired tear gas canisters, disrupting a petitioning ceremony at the Capitol Building.
By Lincoln G. Peters
Monrovia, Liberia, March 26, 2025 – Riot officers of the Liberian National Police Tuesday, March 25, 2025 teargased students of the Monrovia Consolidated School System (MCSS) protesting prolonged absence of teachers from class.
Hundreds of students of the MCSS paraded streets of Monrovia Tuesday with placards, demanding government’s attention to teachers’ boycott of classes.
The protest began from D. Twe Memorial High School and Marvin Sonnie School both in the commercial district of Bushrod Island to Central Monrovia, where students joined their colleagues from G. W. Gibson and William V. S. Tubman High School, including other surrounding public schools under the administration of the MCSS.
The protesting students went to the Capitol Building to petition lawmakers to look into their plight.
The protesters were instructed and guided by Traffic Officers of the Liberian National Police to the main entrance of the University of Liberia and the Capitol Building when riot officers took charge.
The students spent approximately ten minutes at the entrance of the Capitol, awaiting their lawmakers to receive the petition, but nobody showed up initially.
Subsequently, Police instructed the students to take one side of the street and allow free movement of vehicles and pedestrians, which the students adhered.
However, after several hours, members of the House of Representatives, particularly from the majority bloc were seen engaging the students under the guidance of Police 102 Nelson Freeman.
The lawmakers of the majority bloc included Representative Alex Williams of Maryland County, who chairs the Committee on Education; Representative Sekou Kanneh, Chair on Executive and Representative Price Tole, Chair on Claims and Petitions came out to receive the students’ petition.
Student Sekou V. Saryon, President of the Monrovia Consolidated School System Students Union, while in the process of presenting the petition to the stakeholders, heard a heavy blast proceeded by smoke oozing in the air.
Riot officers had fired teargas canisters at the protesting students, something which disrupted the petition ceremony, as lawmakers fled the scene for safety.
Following the teargas, students were seen jumping over the fence of the University of Liberia in search of safety, at which time students from the University of Liberia campus-based Student Unification Party (SUP) joined the protest.
At that moment, stones and other missiles were seen coming from the fence of the University of Liberia thrown at Police, but the Police responded with more teargas to ease the situation.
Meanwhile, some of the protesting students are alleging that Police arrested some of their colleagues, but the Liberian National Police is yet to deny or accept the allegation.
Teachers of the Monrovia Consolidated School System are yet to benefit pay rise initiated by the government in January, but authorities say payroll from the MCSS is bloated with names of people, who were just brought into the System outside of proper procedure hence, a need to clean up the payroll before effecting the pay increase there. Editing by Jonathan Browne
