Liberia: US Embassy Condemns Monday's Violence at UL

The United States Embassy near Monrovia has comdemed Monday's violence at the state owned University of Liberia main campus on Capitol Hill.

In a brief remarks at a press conference held on Tuesday at the Embassy, US Ambassador to Liberia Michael McCarthy said violence is only going to undermine the country's credibility and move it backwards.

"I will first take this opportunity to unconditionally condemn the violence that occurred yesterday at the University of Liberia Capitol Hill campus. Details are still emerging, but I am speaking directly at politicians, student groups, and citizens across the country when I say that violence of any kind has no place in a democratic society. Violence does nothing but undercut your own credibility and will only take this country backwards. Disagreements and competing visions for the country should be solved through peaceful debate and at the ballot box, not on the street," Amb. McCarthy said.

Capitol Hill was on Monday in a state of pandemonium as an unprovoked attack by Montserrado County District #8 Representative Acarous Gray, protected by scores of thugs, invaded the main campus of the University of Liberia (UL) to settle scores with the leadership and members of the campus-based Student Unification Party (SUP).

The invasion, which was being resisted by hardliners, known as ‘militants’, led to a tense hour-long stone-throwing battle that led to many sustaining wounds. Backed by thugs and wayward youths, known as zogos, reportedly recruited from Central Monrovia, who kept pouring in, Rep. Gray’s group eventually dislodged the SUP militants.