Teargas, live bullets and running battles between armed Police and APC supporters as Samura KAMARA goes to ACC
By KABS KANU
Freetown was once again a theatre of chaos that lasted hours and the central district area was temporarily shut down as Police and supporters of the opposition All People’s Congress ( APC ) clashed again in the unending battles between them since President Maada Bio came to power in 2018.
This time, the clashes occurred when the APC presidential candidate for the 2018 presidential elections and former Foreign Minister, Dr. Samura Kamara honored an invitation by the Anti- Corruption Commission ( ACC ) to appear again before the Commission in continuation of their investigations into the alleged embezzlement of about U.S $9 million meant to renovate the Sierra Leone Mission to the United Nations in New York .
Hundreds of APC supporters , many of them holding placards, went to the ACC to demonstrate support and solidarity for Dr. Samura Kamara . They were chanting party victory songs and hailing Dr. Kamara, when a contingent of armed police, led by the Inspector General, Mr. Andrew Sovula , descended on the scene.
As it has been happening in numerous occasions , in some cases with deaths and serious injuries to rallying APC supporters when the two forces meet in public , the Police used excessive force to disperse the APC supporters , firing both tear gas and live bullets, according to many videos shown on social media.
Many Sierra Leoneans interviewed by regular media officials and social media citizen journalists condemned the show of force by the Police, since the APC supporters were not engaged in lawless acts but were only demonstrating in support of Dr. Samura Kamara,in exercise of their legitimate constitutional rights of assembly. Why the Sierra Leone Police think that it is unlawful to assembly in public and demonstrate when this right is provided by the constitution remains a sticking point and has brought them lots of condemnation from right-thinking citizens
As a matter of fact, only last week, the European Union Elections Follow-Up team made scathing comments about the Sierra Leone Police, highlighting their lack of neutrality and being part of government machinery to undermine democracy in Sierra Leone. Their conduct today just confirmed what the EU Report said about them.
The Police action resulted in running battles between them and supporters of the APC and there were many injuries and arrests. At least,thankfully this time, no deaths have so far been reported, unlike what happened during the deadly police shootings of unarmed APC supporters at Mile 91, Tombo, Hastings, Tonko Limba, Lunsar and Makeni, some of which were highlighted in the U.S. State Department 2020 Country Report on Human Rights in Sierra Leone.
Today’s events in Freetown will once again raise very serious questions about the democratic credentials of this SLPP government, which has earned a very bad reputation for being morbidly hateful of opposition and practicing junta-styled repressive and totalitarian politics since it came to power in 2018.
Some APC supporters opined that the SLPP orchestrated these latest clashes with the APC to divert attention from the EU Report and President Bio’s very poor showing abroad during interviews with CNN and the BBC, who, Sierra Leoneans felt, ridiculed the President.
For their part, SLPP supporters on social media accused the APC of lawlessness, asserting that APC supporters had no right to assemble at the ACC and that they have taken into the habit of destabilizing the country through frequent public demonstrations.
