Liberia’s main opposition Congress for Democratic Change accused Police Inspector General Gregory Coleman of plotting to murder civil society leader Mulbah Morlu after police surrounded his home and detained him following a protest on Friday.
The CDC said in a statement that the presence of an armed man at a July 17 pro-democracy demonstration organized by Morlu’s STAND movement was evidence of a “deliberate assassination attempt,” alleging weapon was planted to intimidate peaceful protesters.
After the gun was discovered and recovered from the unknown man, Morlu had planned to present the gun to U.S. Embassy officials as proof of what it called a state-backed effort to attack demonstrators.
Police on Friday night declared Morlu “dangerously armed and wanted,” prompting armed officers to besiege his residence in the Congo Town suburb of Monrovia on Saturday morning.
Morlu was later taken to the Paynesville City magisterial court, where the gun was handed over, before being placed under arrest and moved into police custody.
The CDC accused Coleman and the Boakai-Koung administration of using security forces to target opposition figures, calling the episode part of a broader pattern of politically motivated intimidation. The party demanded Morlu’s immediate release and an independent investigation into the armed man who appeared at the protest.
Hassan Fadiga, a pro-government security analyst, rejected the police alert and urged de-escalation.
“The LNP press release is sensationalized and unnecessarily inflammatory,” Fadiga said. “The LNP must immediately de-escalate the situation between itself and Mr. Morlu before it results in an unnecessary act of violence leading to injury or loss of life.”
He said Morlu did not appear to pose an imminent threat and that force should not be justified solely on the basis that he may have had a firearm.
Morlu, a prominent government critic, had led a demonstration on July 17 in Monrovia. The protest and the subsequent police action have intensified tensions between the opposition and law enforcement in a country with a history of politically charged unrest.
