Thousands of demonstrators are expected to take to the streets on Friday in Liberia to express anger over President George Weah’s alleged poor handling of the economy and perceptions that corruption is on the rise.
The Council of Patriots – a coalition of politicians, students and civil society groups – has called on people to come out to, in its words, “save the state”.
“We will remain in the streets until our demands are addressed… We will not leave the streets until we get results,” protest leader and talk-show host Henry Costa is quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
People are stocking up on food ahead of the demonstration fearing that there could be trouble for the next few days, AFP news agency reports.
“I came to the market to get some food provisions for the family for at least seven days, because the way this protest news is going we don’t know how long it will go on for,” Samantha Wongbay told AFP.
One focus for people’s anger is the apparent disappearance of state funds.
Their anger centres on two scandals:
- Revelations last year that $15.5bn Liberian dollars ($104m, £82m) of freshly minted currency had disappeared from Liberia’s ports
- The mismanagement of a $25m cash injection into the economy last year.
