Compact discs (CDs) and video compact discs of last Thursday’s standoff in Makeni between the Sierra Leone Police and supporters of Ex-President Ernest Koroma have gone viral on social media and copies are going like hot cakes on the streets of Freetown .
What these discs are portraying is how when pushed to the wall, the public can stand up to the Police, as seen in the United States. The Police have been too repressive, high-handed and trigger-happy since President Maada Bio came to power . The Makeni incident was a statement from the public that police repression and suppression will not be countenanced for long.
However, the Sierra Leone Police views the circulation of these discs as incitement to the public to emulate the Makeni standoff. They have threatened to arrest those found distributing these discs.
_______________________________
SIERRA LEONE POLICE PRESS RELEASE
The Sierra Leone Police (SLP) has learnt with dismay that following acts of lawlessness displayed by some youths and their cohorts in Makeni on Thursday October 8, 2020, some unpatriotic people have resorted to transmit the incident on compact discs (CDs) and video compact discs (VCDs) for commercial purposes.
This act of selling and distributing these CDs and VCDs on the streets and market places in Freetown and the provinces, is not only considered to be unlawful, but also viewed as encouraging and inciting violence and lawlessnes in society.
The SLP wishes to reiterate that it is an offence to sell and/or distribute materials which have the tendency to instigate and encourage violence and disaffection within the State.I
n this regard, the SLP notes that whoever is or has been unlawfully engaged in selling and/or distributing such audios and/or video materials, relative to the October 8 incident in Makeni, should desist forthwith or risk being arrested and prosecuted for inciting and instigating violence and disaffection within the State.
You have been warned.
Media and Public Relations Unit,Police Headquarters, George Street, Freetown. *Dated*: 10th October, 2020.
