The protests were widespread including two in the capital Freetown, police inspector-general William Fayia Sellu said on Thursday.
Angry protesters shut down the country demanding the resignation of President Julius Maada Bio who is currently on a month-long vacation with his family in London, The New Dawn reports.
The Vice-President of Sierra Leone, Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh declared a nationwide curfew amid violent protests across communities in Freetown and other parts of the country.
Local Sierra Leonean daily, the Telegraph reported that the government also shut down the country’s internet service to prevent the sharing of images of the protests taking place in the northern cities and towns, as well as the capital Freetown – opposition APC strongholds.
President Bio is accused of rampant corruption, human rights abuses, the killing of unarmed civilians and prisoners, abuse of state power, poor leadership and the acute economic hardship that people in the country are experiencing.
What are Sierra Leone’s challenges?
Until the outbreak of Ebola in 2014, Sierra Leone was seeking to attain middle-income status by 2035, but the country still carries its post-conflict attributes according to the World Bank on West Africa.
High youth unemployment
Almost 60 percent of young people in Sierra Leone are unemployed, driving their urge to seek work abroad, usually via irregular migration.
Corruption
The 2018 Global Competitiveness Report ranked Sierra Leone 109th out of 140 countries for Incidence of Corruption, with country 140 having the highest incidence of corruption.
Institutions such as Transparency International Sierra Leone TISL which is a civil society anti-corruption advocacy organisation dedicated to promoting integrity, ethics and anti-corruption values in personal and national development efforts in Sierra Leone, are working hard to root our corruption at all levels of governance.
Weak governance
Sierra Leonians have denounced poor sanitation in hospitals, and maternal and infant mortality rates were high
In 2021, the president signed the Abolition of the Death Penalty Bill into law.
Amnesty International reported that police used excessive force against protesters and other people, and that the government failed to protect the rights of LGBTI people, with sexual and gender-based violence remaining prevalent in the country.
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