Ebola: Liberians Riot Over Government Restrictions

Liberians staying at West point, Monrovia, Liberia, have began rioting after the Liberian Government sealed off the area where they live due to the Ebola virus scare.

Man in anti riot gear

The Liberian government is trying to stop the increased spread of the deadly virus and control its borders.
The Westpoint residents begun rioting when one female commissioner was given permission to leave the closed district with her family while the rest were held down.
The district with a population of sixty thousand citizens feel that the government is marginalizing them long before the outbreak of the virus.
The district contained workers who moved from Liberia’s rural areas to the city after the civil war ended in search of good jobs, but now the district have been labelled a no go area after lots of residents are said to be infected.

Men throwing rocks at security teams

The policy the Liberian Government is using now is meant to stop any one from moving out of the area, this sort of harsh law was used by Europeans to contain the European-wide ‘Black Death’ that killed millions. It is rarely used in modern times during the outbreak of infectious diseases. The sanitary barrier is one where no resident is allowed out, and was last used in Europe, in 1918, along the Polish-Russian border to stop the spread of Typhus.

Seeking way out

Teenagers and young men in the area started throwing rocks at the security men trying to hold them in, and the security men are said to have started shooting at them while some other where chased back by batons.

Westpoint Liberia

Westpoint Liberia

Ms. Haja Miatta Flowers, a West Point government commissioner, was given access to leave the quarantined area with her children.
Roughly 1,350 people have died from the Ebola virus, with Liberia having the highest death toll among the affected West African nations. Liberia’s death toll so far is believed to be the hardest, about 576 people.