By Joseph G. Bangali
Residents of Freetown woke up to the sounds of gunfire reverberating around the Eastend of
the capital in the early hours of Wednesday, 10 th August. Eyewitness reports indicate that as
early as 7am on that fateful day insurgents, most of them youths from Makolor after the
second tollgate to Waterloo, thousands of people took to the main highway leading to
Freetown, setting up roadblocks with burning tyres and brandishing weapons such as
machetes, sticks spiked with nails and other deadly paraphernalia.
However, those who attempted to go through the Hastings tollgate were prevented from doing
so by the military personnel. In Waterloo, the protests resulted in the loss of lives of both police
personnel and civilians. Over seven officers were reportedly killed including Eleanor Peters a
female Corporal who was brutally murdered in cold blood while she was trying to escape from
the fire set ablaze at the police station.
In the Eastend of Freetown from Calaba Town to Portee Junction, irate youths attacked the
Police Station at Congo Water, released all the inmates in the cells, vandalized the building
tearing up case files and killed an OSD officer whose rifle was used to continue their rampage.
The police had to put up a robust resistance which resulted in the loss of some of their officers
while heavy casualties were also inflicted on the rioters. With the intervention of the military
personnel upon the invocation of the Military Aid to Civil Power (MAC-P), the security forces
were able to quell the situation.
It was reported that similar incidents were also resulted in the deaths of police officers at the
hands of insurgents bent on destabilizing the country in the Northern towns of Makeni,
Magburaka and Kamakwie where an officer was killed and the police station burnt down.
Several other officers were also killed in Kamakwie and Makeni.
On the same day of Wednesday 10 th August 2022, a state of emergency was declared by the
Vice President Alhaji Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh who was Acting President at the time the
incidence occurred effective 3pm Wednesday to 7am Thursday. The curfew has been extended
to 7pm to 7am daily effective Thursday 11 th August until further notice.
What was made absolutely clear yesterday by the actions of the insurgents is that their sole aim
was to overthrow the legitimately elected government through violent means. As we await the
outcome of the investigations launched by government, we continue to implore our
compatriots to remain calm, peaceful and law-abiding.
May the souls of our compatriots rest in perfect peace and may light perpetual shine upon
them.