By Alfred Koroma
Those who are prepared to disrupt the elections will be behind bars; they will not vote, Sierra Leone police (SLP) has warned.
“They will face the full force of the law. We are prepared,” AIG Brima Jah, said while speaking to the press at the Sierra Leone Police Headquarters yesterday, June 21st.
SLP called the press conference following tensions and unrest, as the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) attempted to stage a protest against the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone’s fifth multi-party general election is scheduled to hold on Saturday June 24, but the main opposition party has repeatedly raised several concerns around the electoral process and called for the resignation of the Chief electoral commissioner.
Yesterday’s protest came after the party had warned it will protest if the concerns of the party are left unheeded.
According to the Sierra Leone Police, APC wrote the Inspector General (IG) of police, informing him about the party’s intention to stage a ‘peaceful protest,’ but the IG called APC’s stakeholders for a meeting before the protest, they did not turned up, but proceeded with the planned protest.
The Police say 66 protesters were arrested in a crackdown to coil the protest which happened in the political stronghold of the APC – Freetown and the North of the country. The South-East, known for the ruling party was calm. 57 people were arrested in the East of Freetown and 9 in the West. But nobody was killed in the saga, police say.
The police also said the footage circulating on social media alleging a member of the APC Party was killed is false and misleading.
“The forces did not fire any shot,” AIG Jah told the press.
However, the police claimed that gun shots were fired by ex-combatants hosted in the APC Party Office. Concord Times has not confirmed this claim.
