By: Akoi M. Baysah, Jr.
The opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) has strongly condemned what it described as the “brutal and premeditated” use of force by state security officers against peaceful demonstrators during a protest organized by the Solidarity and Trust for a New Day (STAND) movement in Monrovia on December 17, 2025.
In a statement issued on Thursday, December 18, and signed by its National Chairman, Janga A. Kowo, the CDC accused the administration of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai of crossing a “dangerous red line” by allegedly authorizing violent repression against citizens exercising their constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
According to the statement, the events that unfolded during the protest did not constitute routine crowd control, but rather amounted to “state terror” intended to silence dissent.
The party asserted that the Liberian Constitution and international human rights instruments guarantee the right to peaceful protest, which it said was violated during the police response.
The opposition party further alleged that the violence was deliberately provoked by individuals throwing stones from within the secured perimeter of the Capitol Building.
The CDC claimed that those individuals were linked to staff members in the Office of Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung, describing the alleged act as a calculated provocation later used to justify a forceful police crackdown on unarmed protesters.“This is an unmistakable pattern-manufacture chaos, then unleash repression,” the statement read.
Issuing a direct warning to President Boakai and Inspector General of Police Gregory Coleman, the CDC said both officials would be held “personally and institutionally accountable” should Liberia descend into what it described as an era of fear, repression, and state-sponsored violence.
Drawing on Liberia’s troubled past, the CDC cautioned that the politicization of security institutions and intolerance of peaceful dissent could undermine national stability.
“When a government abandons restraint and treats peaceful protest as an enemy, the nation does not move forward — it disintegrates,” the statement warned.
The party demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all protesters arrested or detained in connection with the December 17 demonstration, insisting that it would not be intimidated or silenced.
The CDC also appealed to the international community, urging diplomatic partners and human rights organizations to closely monitor what it described as a troubling trajectory for democratic governance
