TEMPO.CO, Monrovia - Liberian police were forced to use tear gas and life ammunition to disperse the crowd attempting to breach the Ebola Quarantine Center in West Point, Monrovia. The clash injured four people, one in critical condition.
Witness said that the clash took place after security officers had blocked the street to the quarantine center on Wednesday, August 20, 2014. The military used barbed wire, tables, and chairs to block the entrance to the facility.
Residents in the area strongly opposed the establishment of a quarantine center located cloase to their homes. In the attempt to breach the blockade, people began throwing stones at officers guarding the entrance, who retaliated by opening fire at the crowd.
Previously, similar attack had taken place on Saturday, when a number of West Point residents attacked a quarantine center in Monrovia. As a result, 17 ebola patients had escaped the facility, before returning back to the quarantine center.
RINDU P. HESTYA | REUTERS