-On July 17, and 26, 2026
MONROVIA – Two of Liberia’s most vocal civil society and student movements, Solidarity and Trust for a New Day (STAND) and the Student Unification Party (SUP),
have formally announced a massive protest scheduled for July, 2026 — the country’s Independence month. The STAND officially launched the Save Liberia Protest Coalition on Thursday, declaring that decades of economic hardship, police brutality, and political neglect have pushed the Liberian people to a breaking point.
STAND says its protest will take place on July 17, 2026, at the Executive Mansion under the banner “LEAD OR LEAVE NOW — The 2nd Coming,” with a follow-up mobilization planned for Independence Day, July 26.
Delivering the statement at the coalition’s formal launch, a STAND Chairman, Mulbah K. Morlu
framed the protest as a moral reckoning for the administration of President Joseph Boakai.
“Today… history is calling our names. Today… the soil of Liberia is crying out,” the organizer said. “Today… the poor are speaking. Today… the forgotten are rising. Not for violence. Not for chaos. Not for destruction. But for truth. For justice. For dignity. For Liberia.”
The coalition described itself as “a movement of the people, by the people, for the people” — rejecting tribal, partisan, or personal ambitions. “This movement is bigger than politics. Bigger than tribe. Bigger than county. This movement is Liberia crying for genuine rescue.”
The statement cataloged widespread suffering across the country: rising prices of rice and transportation, stagnant civil servant salaries, disappearing jobs, and collapsing dreams for young people.
“Graduates are sitting home hopeless. Parents cannot feed their children. Business people are closing shops. Teachers are suffering. Health workers are exhausted. Kehkeh riders are struggling. Motorcyclists are enduring hardship day by day. Street vendors are running from police while trying to feed their families,” the organizer said.
The statement sharply condemned corruption, asserting that “while the people suffer, corruption is growing fat. The poor are tightening their belts… but the corrupt are loosening theirs. The people are drowning… while officials are swimming in luxury.”
STAND reminded the public that it had previously marched peacefully, protested peacefully, and petitioned the government peacefully — only to be met with intimidation and aggression.
“Peaceful protesters were met with police brutality. Citizens demanding accountability were treated like enemies. Voices of resistance were threatened. Democracy itself was insulted,” the statement read.
The organizer invoked the March 28, 2024, Kinjor massacre, saying: “We remember Kinjor. We remember the blood. We remember the pain. Liberian lives matter. No government should answer peaceful cries with violence.”
The coalition announced that on July 17, 2026, at the Executive Mansion, “baboon will divide kola” — a Liberian idiom meaning a confrontation or reckoning will take place. Organizers stressed this does not mean violence but “resistance that will not surrender ground.” “That day will be a defining moment in the history of Liberia. A moment when the people rise peacefully together. A moment when silence finally breaks,” the statement said.
STAND called on students, civil society organizations, opposition parties, religious leaders, traditional chiefs, women’s groups, market women, teachers, health workers, lawyers, journalists, diaspora Liberians, and all struggling citizens to join. “We are not calling for violence. We are not calling for destruction. We are calling for peaceful resistance. Sustained peaceful resistance. Relentless democratic resistance,” the organizer said. “But this time… the people will not be ignored. This time… the people will not back down.”
The statement directly attacked President Boakai for calling Liberian critics “dogs,” saying this proves he has “no interest in constructive dialogue. No interest in justice. No interest in accountability.” The coalition also condemned the appointment of Jonathan Weedor as head of the National Elections Commission, calling him a “partisan surrogate” and “political zealot.” The statement asked: “How can the referee openly wear the jersey of one side? How can democracy survive when neutrality is dead?”
STAND demanded the removal of Inspector General Gregory Coleman, describing him as a “gangster boss” who rewards brutality and intimidation. “Why maintain Gregory Coleman? Why reward brutality? Why reward fear?” The statement further accused the government of surrendering national dignity at the border with Guinea, removing a sitting Speaker of the House through “corruption and manipulation,” expelling a lawmaker for free speech, and jailing a citizen for six months for allegedly insulting a Supreme Court justice.
“Fear is growing. Intimidation is growing. Oppression is growing. And democracy is bleeding,” the organizer said. On housing evictions, the statement noted: “Poor Liberians are being targeted and forced from their homes for living in alley communities… even though the president himself lives on an alley. What hypocrisy!”
The statement concluded with a litany of grievances: “Enough of the suffering. Enough of the corruption. Enough of the brutality. Enough of the intimidation. Enough of the lies. Enough of the betrayal.” The July 17 protest, organizers said, will demand that President Boakai either lead effectively or leave office.
Meanwhile, the Vanguard Student Unification Party (SUP), has announced that its previously held March for Jobs and Justice will continue on July 26, 2026 — Independence Day — as a “continuation of the struggle.” “Our previous mobilization on April 14 was the manifestation of a deeper national crisis rooted in unemployment, inequality, institutional decay, corruption, repression, and the widening separation between the governing elite and the suffering masses,” the statement said in its statement dated May 9, 2026.
Describing itself as the “chief cornerstone and linchpin of the dejected student masses” and the “uncompromising bulwark of ideological consciousness” in Liberia, issued a sweeping statement Thursday demanding the immediate dismissal of Inspector General of Police Gregory Coleman and justice for student activists brutalized during an April 14, 2026 protest.
The 34th Political Bureau and Central Committee of SUP also announced that the March for Jobs and Justice will continue on July 26, 2026 — Liberia’s Independence Day celebration — citing fresh evidence of institutional collapse, unemployment, and political arrogance since their previous mobilization. SUP’s statement, signed by Secretary-General David Howard Jr. and approved by Chairman Cde. Odecious Mulbah, launched a blistering attack on the police Inspector General.
“Under his tenure as IG, the LNP has experienced an institutional fatigue; a body that should be deployed as a force for good in defending lives and property has degenerated into a killing machine and a vessel of state-sponsored violence,” the statement read. SUP accused Coleman of being “divorced from regulation and probity,” calling him “a reckless gangster, a disgraceful gambler and a midnight regime pimp.”
“In fact, the only difference between him and ordinary thieves is that he is dressed in a nice police suit. Beyond all the pomp and pageantry, Gregory Coleman is nothing but a cigar-smoking mafia, a pink-lipped bandit, and a well-dressed zogo,” the statement said.
SUP further alleged that Coleman micromanages the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency from behind the scenes and is the “primary reason” the Boakai administration failed the Rule of Law category on the Millennium Challenge Corporation scorecard.
“It is both ridiculously silly and tragically ironic that a government boasting of the ‘Rule of Law’ in its ARREST Agenda cannot pass that same metric,” SUP said.
The student group listed multiple cases of alleged police brutality and deaths under Coleman’s watch:
· Essah Massaley and Abraham Kerkula — peaceful protesters killed during the March 28, 2024, Kinjor massacre while demanding better working conditions
· Matthew Mulbah — a man suffering mental illness shot dead by LNP
· Sayon Wolah — an officer who allegedly brutalized a pregnant woman until she died
· James Kandy — a 17-year-old student shot and killed by a Police Support Unit officer on July 1, 2024, in Rehab Community
· Charles Kollie — died mysteriously after arrest for alleged power theft in Gbarnga
· Austine Yarkpawolo — died due to police brutality
· Morris Gomo — died in police custody
· Prince Wreyou — died in custody
· A motorcyclist recently shot in the head in Chicken Soup Factory
The statement also noted that during the eviction exercise at the CDC headquarters, police officers were caught stealing wigs and other items. On April 14, 2026, SUP said, peaceful student activists were “arbitrarily arrested, brutalized and imprisoned for no justifiable reason.” “These multiple incidents reflect a disturbing pattern of death in police custody, shooting during crowd control, and the unlawful and excessive use of force characterized by zero state prosecution,” SUP said.
SUP demanded the immediate publication of the investigation report into the April 14 crackdown, during which students were “beaten, chased, dragged across the ground, publicly humiliated, unlawfully detained and confined under degrading conditions.”
The group alleged that police officers confiscated and stole phones, money, bags, and academic materials from students during the crackdown.
“Weeks have elapsed, and the Liberian people remain trapped in a suffocating vacuum of silence. No findings have been made public. No timeline has been clearly communicated. No officers have been publicly identified, suspended, or prosecuted,” SUP said.
“The so-called investigation increasingly appears less like a genuine pursuit of accountability and more like a calculated strategy of delay designed to exhaust public attention while protecting institutional impunity.”
SUP also attacked Youth and Sports Minister Cornelia Kruah over her announcement of 500 scholarships for University of Liberia students, noting that the university already operates a tuition-free undergraduate policy — a victory SUP claims was achieved through “years of militant struggles and agitations.”
“Announcing scholarships at a tuition-free university is like attempting to pour water into a river. The contradiction is so obvious that it transforms itself into a solo comedy,” the statement said.
SUP described Kruah as a “glory-seeking buffoon,” a “validation parasite,” a “recognition criminal,” and a “disjointed opportunist who is shamefully ignorant of her duties.” “Like a woman taking credit to produce light simply by turning on a switch, so is Cornelia Kruah,” the statement said. “This egotistical loudmouth has no clear agenda. She hides her incompetence behind a proliferation of announcements that have little life-changing impact on the youth of Liberia.”
SUP noted that its April 14 mobilization articulated 75 counts against the government. Since then, the statement said, “history itself has added new chapters of failure.”
The group cited the recent MCC Scorecard failure on unemployment, reports that the government plans to spend over US$750,000 on Independence Day celebrations while civil servants remain unpaid, the devastating Redlight fire that destroyed hundreds of market stalls with inadequate state response, continued delays in establishing the War and Economic Crimes Court, and persistent economic hardship including high rice prices and lack of access to foreign currency. “The government somehow discovers extraordinary energy when it comes to ceremonial expenditure,” SUP said. “Fireworks and official speeches cannot substitute for bread, salaries, or jobs.”
