The government of Sierra Leone has deployed heavily armed police and military personnel to various parts of Freetown ahead of today’s protest by the opposition All People’s Congress (APC).

The APC had said that it would stage a peaceful march to the office of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) in Freetown following the failure of the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohammed Konneh and his electoral commissioners to resign or address their concerns regarding the forthcoming election as demanded in an earlier press conference.

The peaceful protest was earlier scheduled to hold on Sunday but was postponed after the Inspector General of Police refused to grant the party approval, citing late notification.

Despite a meeting with the ECSL, and other international bodies on Monday, the APC said there was no headway, and it will go ahead with its planned demonstration if their demands are not met.

“We want to unequivocally state here that, if all the issues are not resolved in today’s 12pm meeting, be notified that we have now call out our supporters nation-wide to converge in designated areas to be communicated by the Party for a peaceful protest on Wednesday 21st  June, 2023. As it will be a peaceful procession, we urge your personnel to be peaceful with civilians and to provide us with the required protection.”, a statement by the party on Tuesday said.

Responding to the APC’s announcement, the police cited Section 17 (2) of the Public Order Act No. 46 of 1965, which grants the Commissioner of Police, and in this case, the IGP, the authority to disallow or impose conditions on any procession if it poses a risk to defense, public order, public safety, or public morality. The APC was further invited to another meeting with the Inspector General of Police and his senior management team at Police Headquarters on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at 10:00 hours for further discussion and planning concerning the intended peaceful march.

It is not particularly clear if the protest will go ahead as scheduled. However, heavy military and police presence has been spotted in various parts of Freetown. A video shared by SierraEyeSalone showed at least 10 officers stationed around St John in Freetown. It was also gathered that the route leasing to the APC headquarters has been barricaded.

“Armed police are stationed outside the Police headquarters on George Street via Siaka Stevens Street with police trucks parading the central business district but everything remains peaceful for now.”, a witness said.