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UN forces fire tear gas at Liberia poll protest

Posted on: Friday, 11 November 2005, 13:57 CST

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 demand a halt to counting in an election Weah says was rigged.

Police from the U.N. peacekeeping force also used batons to disperse hundreds of Weah supporters who broke through a line of Liberian riot police near the imposing beachside U.S. embassy building.

A 20-year-old woman was bleeding from the head after being hit by a U.N. policeman, witnesses said, provoking a furious reaction from some in 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.

Weah and his Congress for Democratic Change party insist the vote was rigged and have filed an application to the country's Supreme Court to try to stop the counting process.

But the court told Weah's campaign team it could not consider the complaint until the NEC had investigated it.

"If the NEC rules and we are not satisfied then we have to go back to the Supreme Court," said Steve Quoah, campaign spokesman for the former AC Milan striker, adding they would have five days after the NEC ruling to appeal.

COUNT GOES ON

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

"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 is intended to draw a line under 14 years of war in 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, harassment and prohibiting our polling workers from going into polling stations."

Outside the party's headquarters, 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," said Yeanto Harris, a young woman wearing a Weah campaign T-shirt.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn)

Source: REUTERS

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