The Liberia National Police (LNP) says it has taken note of public announcements regarding a planned protest by the Solidarity and Trust For A New Day (STAND) scheduled for December 17, 2025, and warned that the Executive grounds are not designated for protests or demonstrations. However, STAND has outrightly rejected the police claim, stating that the assertion is historically dishonest, legally baseless, politically selective, and constitutes a direct insult to Constitutional democracy.
According to a LNP release, in keeping with its Constitutional mandate to protect life and property, it formally engaged the leadership of STAND ahead of the proposed activity. This engagement forms 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 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.
In a 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.
“STAND emphasizes that constitutional rights do not expire, relocate, or disappear when political power changes hands. What was lawful yesterday cannot become unlawful today by convenience or command.
“Peaceful assembly at or near the seat of government is a globally recognized democratic norm. Accordingly, STAND will assemble peacefully, lawfully, and resolutely at the Executive Mansion, just as others before us did—without violence, without provocation, and without fear.
“Invoking Christmas to suppress or postpone a peaceful protest is disingenuous and unacceptable. Millions of Liberians are entering the so-called festive season hungry, unemployed, dispossessed, and brutalized by state actors. There is nothing festive about poverty, police abuse, land grabs, corruption, and impunity. Christmas is being weaponized as a cover to silence suffering while a privileged elite feasts in excess.”
According to STAND, they will not submit to veiled threats disguised as “professional reminders”, and any attempt to suppress, disrupt, or violently confront peaceful protesters will rest squarely and permanently on the shoulders of those who issue such orders. “History is unambiguous: governments that turn state security against peaceful citizens always fail, and the consequences follow the perpetrators, not the people.
“The December 17 ‘Lead Or Leave’ peaceful protest will proceed as planned. It will be peaceful. It will be orderly. It will be Constitutional. And it will never submit to police intimidation or autocratic pressure. Liberia belongs to its people—not to uniforms, offices, or temporary occupants of power.”
