UN 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 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)