U.N. forces fire tear gas at Liberia poll protest

By Katharine Houreld and Alphonso Toweh

MONROVIA (Reuters) – U.N. forces fired tear gas at angry
supporters of Liberian soccer star George Weah on Friday after
they stoned police and marched to the U.S. embassy to back a
demand to halt counting in an election Weah says was rigged.

Police from the U.N. peacekeeping force used the gas and
batons to disperse hundreds of Weah supporters after they broke
through a line of Liberian riot police trying to hold them back
from the imposing beachside U.S. embassy building.

A 20-year-old woman was bleeding from the head after being
hit by an U.N. policeman, witnesses said.

This provoked a furious reaction from members of the crowd,
who chanted “Wicked U.N.”

Earlier, Weah supporters chanted “No Weah, no peace,” and
“No Weah, no president” and hurled stones at riot police in
front of the National Elections Commission (NEC) as U.N.
helicopters hovered overhead.

With 97 percent of polling stations’ votes counted from
Tuesday’s runoff ballot, Harvard-trained former Finance
Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has an unassailable 59.4
percent. But Weah and his Congress for Democratic Change party
insist the election was rigged.

“This morning the Congress for Democratic Change filed a
written prohibition to the Supreme Court of Liberia to
intervene and stop the counting process,” Steve Quoah, campaign
spokesman for the former AC Milan striker, told journalists.

COUNT GOES ON

NEC chief Frances Johnson-Morris said she had not been
instructed to stop counting.

“To the best of my knowledge the Supreme Court has not
ruled … we have not received anything from the Supreme Court
to stop counting,” she told reporters.

International observers have said Tuesday’s runoff, which
followed an inconclusive first round last month in which Weah
came first, was generally free and fair.

Businesses in some parts of Monrovia closed on Friday as
crowds of Weah supporters marched, carrying palm branches.

Weah addressed supporters at the party headquarters and
appealed for calm. The election had been intended to draw a
line under 14 years of war which racked Africa’s oldest
republic, founded in 1847 by freed black slaves from America.

“You have to be courageous because we have not lost the
election. We want you to have courage. We want you to know that
everything we do is peace first and peace last,” Weah told a
crowd of supporters, mainly young men and women.

“You chose me because I am a peace ambassador. You have a
case. While we are looking into the case we want you to remain
calm. The streets of Monrovia do not belong to demonstrators.
Do not go into the streets to riot,” he said.

Quoah said party activists and election workers had
reported many fraudulent activities during the poll.

“They are bringing in more evidence of fraud … the
complaints we have received include intimidation, include
harassment and prohibiting our polling workers from going into
polling stations.”

Outside the party’s headquarters in Monrovia, many
supporters heatedly debated the election result.

“He has won , but they don’t want to give it to him … the
election is very unfair and we have evidence to prove it,”
Yeanto Harris, a young woman wearing a Weah campaign T-shirt,
told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn)