Tuesday 8 November 2011

Liberia's heated election and fears of media crackdown


People are in the streets singing and dancing.

Motorbike drivers, sometimes carrying as many as four passengers, are racing up and down the roads, horns blaring. Street sellers, taking advantage of the crowds, are plying their wares - bananas, groundnuts and pouches of cold water.

They have been waiting for hours for their hero - the world football legend George Weah. He is the vice-presidential candidate for the main opposition party, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC). Winston Tubman is running for president on the same ticket.

Today, they are on their way here to Ganta in the north-east of Liberia to campaign and the excitement is mounting.

"They're coming," someone shouts suddenly.

Everyone rushes to see the convoy arrive. But in the mayhem, a man gets knocked down by one of the CDC cars. I join other journalists by the podium where the visitors will speak, and it is here where I see, at first hand, attempts to stifle the press.A Liberian journalist starts taking pictures of him lying on the ground covered in blood. This will be the story in all the papers tomorrow.

To read more, please go to the BBC website.

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