PHOTO: Speaker Chambers whose house set ablaze by angry mob in Pleebo
By William Selmah, wselmah@gmail.com
The Liberia National Police says it has established absolutely no link between House Speaker Bhofal Chambers and the killing that sparked days of violent unrest in Harper and Pleebo cities in Maryland County, over 362 miles southeast of Monrovia.
The Speaker’s house in Pleebo was completely burned down during this rioting.
Police spokesman Moses Carter said the Maryland police detachment has told headquarters that that their probe shows no connection between the Speaker and the atrocities that prompted the street protests.
The killing of the motorcyclist has been attributed to ritualistic killing. But no one has so far publically linked Speaker Chambers to the incident.
Meanwhile, calm is said to have returned to Harper and Pleebo following the disturbances over the apparent ritual murder of the commercial motorcyclist.
The victim was brutally murdered and several body parts including the eye extracted.
The violent protests that followed saw the burning of several public and private properties including the Harper Central Prison, a vehicle belonging to the county police, in addition to the private residence of the Speaker, among others.
President Weah Wednesday imposed a dusk to dawn curfew throughout the County which went into force on the evening of April 1, 2021.
Announcing the measure, the President said: “I would like to assure the people of Maryland County that this killing has claimed the urgent attention of the Government, and will be thoroughly, promptly and fully investigated. The perpetrators will face the full weight of the law”.
He also used the occasion to appeal for calm, and to avoid taking the law into their own hands in order for the criminal justice system to take its course.
President Weah admonished Marylanders to channel all grievances through the legal process, “as Government will not condone lawlessness and violence at any time and from anyone.”
Besides the police reinforcement, soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) were also called in from the Armed Forces of Liberia to help enforce the curfew.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cambridge English Dictionary defines defending thus, “to protect someone or something against attack or criticism…“