Liberian soldiers opened fire on residents of a slum in
their country's capital city today after it was locked down in an effort to
contain the spread of Ebola virus.
According to DailyMail, people ran screaming as soldiers from the
country's Ebola Task Force brutally enforced a quarantine of Monrovia's West
Point district ordered by the country's president last night.
The chaos in Monrovia erupted
after protesters surrounded the home of the West Point's commissioner, Miatta
Flowers, pictured below, blaming her for the decision to turn their
neighbourhood into an open-air isolation ward. See photos below.
Warning: Graphic content:
Soldiers carrying assault rifles lashed out at residents with telescopic truncheons and at least one man was shot as a security team moved in to evacuate Mrs. Flowers. A resident of the West Point district told the Associated Press by phone that security forces were firing into the air to disperse crowds angry over the quarantine measures.
Over the weekend also, a mob
attacked and looted an Ebola screening centre, accusing officials of bringing
sick people from all over Monrovia into their neighbourhood. Dozens of people
waiting to be screened fled in the chaos. Looters made off with items,
including bloody sheets and mattresses that could further spread the virus.
In many areas of the capital,
meanwhile, dead bodies have been in the streets for hours, sometimes days, even
though residents asked that the corpses be picked up by health ministry workers
wearing protective gear.
Riot police and soldiers have now
sealed off West Point with makeshift barricades built from piles of wood and
barbed wire. Ferries to the area have been halted, and a coast guard boat
was patrolling the waters around the peninsula. At least 50,000 people live on
the half-mile-long point, which is one of the poorest and most densely
populated neighbourhoods of the capital. Sanitation is poor even in the best of
times, and defecation in the streets and beaches is a major problem. Mistrust
of authorities is rampant and many people live without electricity or access to
clean water.
Liberia's strict new measures came
as medical authorities there said three infected doctors treated with an
experimental drug were showing signs of recovery, although it was not certain
if it was thanks to the drug. Announcing the quarantine, as well as a wider
curfew, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said last night:
'We have been unable to control the spread due to continued
denials, cultural burying practices, disregard for the advice of health workers
and disrespect for the warnings by the government.'As a result and due to the
large population concentration the disease has spread widely in Monrovia and
environs. May God bless us all and save the state,' she later added.
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