IPNEWS: The Executive Director of the People Action Network, Amb Rufus Dio Neufville, has called for speedy investigation and long prison sentences for perpetrators of violence against students at the University of Liberia.

Speaking to a group of young people in the Duport Road community on Monday, August 1, 2022, the former student leader said the framers of the Liberian Constitution deliberately protected the right of all persons, at all times, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble and consult upon the common good, to instruct their representatives, to petition the Government or other functionaries for the redress of grievances… This right, which is guaranteed under Article 17 of the Constitution, cannot be disturbed by reactionary elements.

Neufville who also served as the Standard Bearer of the Student Integration Movement (SIM) at the University of Liberia, said the brutal attack on Cde. Christopher Walter Sisulu Sivili and others must be condemned by all campus-based political parties and student organizations.

Amb Neufville also used the occasion to talk about the history of the Vanguard Student Unification Party (SUP). He said SUP has been in the business of fighting for social justice and academic freedom in Liberia since 1970. They spoke against some of the policies of Presidents Tubman, Tolbert, Doe, Taylor, Blah and Sirleaf. Even during wartimes, the vanguard party stood against Interim Leaders Sawyer, Kpormakpor, Sankawulo, Perry and Bryant. Another thing you must know about SUP is that they don’t mourn their dead or worry over the wounded. They don’t cry. As a matter of fact, they celebrate these people as STRUGGLE ICONS. Neufville continued: the more you hit at the militants of SUP, the more they struggle and the more they multiply.

The former student political general concluded by saying we all have a duty to protect the peace. When we allow injustice and chaos to engulf the land, we will suffer the agonizing consequences.