Editorial: STAND On Confrontational Course?

IN KEEPING WITH its Constitutional mandate to protect life and property, the Liberia National Police (LNP) formally engaged the leadership of Solidarity and Trust For A New Day (STAND) ahead of the proposed December 17, 2025 protest. According to the LNP, this engagement formed part of the police’s standard preventive and dialogue-based approach to public order management.

“DURING THE MEETING, the LNP highlighted key public safety, mobility, and crowd-management considerations associated with the Christmas festive season, a period marked by increased commercial activity, higher population movement, family travel, and expanded national security responsibilities. The police emphasized that large public gatherings during this period pose heightened risks to public safety and the free movement of citizens. In that context, STAND was advised, in good faith, to consider deferring the protest to a more appropriate date after the holidays,” the LNP, in a press release, noted.

“DESPITE THIS ENGAGEMENT, the LNP has seen public communications indicating an intention to go ahead with the protest as planned. The police therefore reiterates that while the Constitutional right to peaceful assembly is fully respected, such rights must be exercised lawfully and responsibly, in a manner that does not endanger public safety or disrupt the rights of others.

“THE PUBLIC IS reminded that: the grounds of the Executive Mansion are not designated for protests or demonstrations; and all existing restrictions on motorcycles and tricycles remain fully in force,” the LNP release added. “Any violations of the law will be addressed promptly and professionally under the laws of the Republic of Liberia.”

HOWEVER, STAND HAS swiftly responded, insisting that the LNP cannot stop them from assembling where proponents of the Unity Party (UP) government protested yesterday. Trying to understand the public safety reasoning of the LNP, one wonders whether STAND is not pursuing a confrontational course.

IN A TROUBLING release issued Tuesday, STAND said, “STAND and the December 17 Protest Coalition categorically reject the Liberia National Police’s claim that the Executive Mansion grounds are ‘not designated for protests’. This assertion is historically dishonest, legally baseless, and politically selective, and constitutes a direct insult to Constitutional democracy. It is rejected in its entirety.

THE STAND RELEASE said, “It is both shameful and hypocritical that the same Executive Mansion grounds freely used for protests and assemblies in 2019 and 2020 by those now in power are today being falsely declared ‘off-limits’ simply because citizens are again demanding accountability. This disgraceful reversal has nothing to do with law or public order; it is pure fear of the people.