Monrovia, Liberia – On Tuesday, March 25, 2025, students at the Monrovia Consolidated School System (MCSS) staged a peaceful protest at the grounds of the Capitol, demanding the payment of outstanding salaries owed their teachers by the government of Liberia.
What began as a peaceful protest quickly escalated into chaos when some students of MCSS reportedly joined forces with members of the University of Liberia-based political party, Student Unification Party, and began throwing stones at Liberia National Police (LNP) officers.
In response, LNP officers fired tear-gas in an attempt to disperse the protesters who later began violent.
For over two and a half hours, the students blocked the main entrances leading to the Capitol Bye-Pass, the University of Liberia main campus, and the Executive Mansion.
The MCSS Students Council leadership in a petition said for more than three months, their teachers have been on a go-slow action in demand of unpaid salaries from the MCSS administration.
The students said the action from their teachers has crippled normal educational outcomes at their various schools.
The students claimed that despite multiple written communications to the Ministry of Education, the Legislature, and the MCSS administration about the issue, no resolution had been reached.
The student representatives emphasized that their goal was to draw the national government’s attention to the matter and to submit a petition to both the House of Representatives and the Liberian Senate for immediate action.
For over three hours, police authorities, alongside representatives from the Ministry of Education, and MCSS Superintendent of the Monrovia Consolidated School System, engaged with the students, urging them to leave the street but to no avail.
However, the students remained firm in their demand that their petition be read to the relevant legislative authorities.
On two separate occasions, leaders from both the House of Representatives and the Senate came to receive the petition, but the process was continuously disrupted by some frustrated students.
The House of Representatives was represented by Montserrado District #2 Representative Sekou Kenneh, Chair on the House’s committee on Executive, Montserrado District #8 Representative, Prince Toles, Chair on the House’s committee on Claims and Petition, and Maryland County District #2 Representative, Anthony Williams, Chair on the House’s committee on Education.
The Senate was represented by Senator Nya D. Twayen of Nimba County.
