Sierra Leone’s government announced a nationwide curfew on Wednesday after violent anti-government protests grappled the West African country, reported The CGTN Africa.
Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh made the announcement on a television broadcast. He said the decision to impose a curfew from 3 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) has been taken as a measure to calm down the situation and return the country to normalcy.
“These unscrupulous individuals have embarked on a violent and unauthorized protests which has led to the loss of lives of innocent Sierra Leoneans including security personnel,” Sierra Leone’s Vice President said.
On Wednesday, thousands of protesters came out on the streets of the capital Freetown and other parts of the country, calling on the government to resign as it has failed to control the issue of the economic hardship and high cost of living.
As per reports, at least two police officers and a civilian have been killed and several others got injured in Wednesday’s violent protests.
“Two police officers, a male and female, were mobbed to death by protesters at the east end of Freetown this morning,” police spokesman Brima Kamara told AFP news agency.
Regional political and economic bloc ECOWAS said it condemned the violence and called in a Twitter post for “all to obey law and order and for the perpetrators of the violence to be identified and brought before the law.” The United Nations also expressed concerns over the violent incidents.
Sierra Leone’s government has invoked the military to work alongside the police to react to the protest in the country. It has criticized the unidentified organizers of the protest, warning that the country already has suffered enough through more than a decade of civil war that ended in 2002.
The ECOWAS regional bloc said in a statement that it strongly condemns the violence.
