Sierra Leonean importers and traders are on the warpath to protest decreasing income from their activities. Blaming government’s penchant for continually hiking customs duties and other taxes, they took to the streets to vent their anger.
“The government continues to raise custom and other taxes at the expense of the sustenance of our businesses”, the importers complained
For the retail traders protested alongside the wholesalers, “the increase in taxes is attracting an increase in the prices of goods. Business is no longer booming because the low income citizens cannot afford the high prices of our goods”.
But the Police would not let them be.
At Siaka Stevens Street in Freetown, the police stormed the protesting retailers and merchants, firing teargas canisters to disperse them without warning.
There were reports of live rounds of ammunition having being used but the police denied any such misbehavior.
“We used only rubber bullets and teargas canisters in the protest as there was no need for live rounds”, their spokesperson rebutted.
The demonstration and the counter police action brought normal business in the central business district of Freetown to a standstill, as the Lebanese and Indians, the big time players as everywhere in Africa, shut down completely alongside local wholesale shops.
Banks and other institutions in the central business district stayed open but with beefed up security to protect their interests but their fears were not borne out.
The police made some arrests.