News Story

FREETOWN: MAADA GBESSAY KAI: Since the last 2007 elections which were manipulated by the NEC and Christiana Thorpe, the APC and its band of hoodlums have been peddling information around town that the SLPP is dead and has lost its support base. This thought was paralysed in the minds of the APC supporters during the launch of the party radio station Unity. The turn out of SLPP supporters on that day was a rude awakening to the APC that the SLPP is indeed stronger than before. Even when they attempted to attack the party on that day supporters showed maturity and avoided the confrontation.

But what the APC saw yesterday, July 1st, when the SLPP came out to rally ahead of the Local Council elections shocked them and they could not hold up but attack the SLPP. While they had been in dreamland that the SLPP had lost supporters in Freetown, thousands of people turned out to show support for their party on Tuesday. During the rally, songs of condemnation of the APC and exultation for the SLPP were sang. This annoyed the APC hoodlums who launched vicious attacks on the SLPP rally at various points of the city. But the thugs met stiff resistance from the SLPP supporters who returned fire for fire.

At the Sani Abacha Street, the SLPP supporters repelled an attack from the APC and the Eastern Police LUC Nepor Senessie had to intervene to put the situation under control. At Lemon Lane, off Kissy Road, a group of APC thugs attacked a band of SLPP supporters who were on their way home after a successful rally. Again they were robustly repelled. Many other incidents of attacks and counter attacks were reported in and around the city.

The president went on air early today calling for political tolerance ahead of the July 5 vote. It is unclear how he intends to achieve his goal when his party supporters are seemingly under clear orders to violently attack opposition supporters and the president has refused to investigate and punish the perpetrators of violent attacks against the opposition evn when his own Resident Minister for the southern province has publicly led some of those attacks and even in spite of overwhelming evidence of the involvement of his own vice president.