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STAND Demands Immediate End to Forced Evictions, Says Saye Town Demolition Threatens the Safety and Rights of Poor Liberians Nationwide


(Monrovia, Liberia, February 5, 2026): The Solidarity and Trust for a New Day (STAND), following its visit to the devastated remains of Saye Town, strongly condemns the illegal, state-backed demolition exercise of private properties carried out by armed police officers acting on a corrupted court order. This heartless operation represents a dangerous and ongoing weaponization of the court system to serve the interests of powerful, well-connected individuals at the expense of poor but legitimate landowners.

STAND is alarmed by the escalating land-grab crisis that has already displaced tens of thousands of citizens in Montserrado County alone, triggering repeated humanitarian emergencies in communities such as Stockton Creek, Sinkor–Old Road, New Port Street, Bushrod Island, Brewerville, and Congo Town. These demolitions have left families homeless, traumatized, and without protection.

Against this backdrop, STAND has received credible information from community-based investigators that the state-backed “bloody bulldozer” campaign may soon expand to target additional communities in Wroto Town and the Paynesville area. We urgently call on the state to halt these actions immediately. Post-war Liberia needs land reform that safeguards vulnerable communities, not the weaponization of courts and state power to dispossess them of their homes.

These heartless demolitions are pushing families into homelessness, hunger, and despair under the silent watch of President Joseph Boakai. His failure to act signals tolerance for abuses committed against the very people he was elected to protect.

STAND is therefore not surprised by former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s endorsement of this brutal campaign against poor people, which reflects a continuation of the Sirleaf-Boakai demolition legacy that displaced thousands during their 12 years in power.

While STAND respects the rule of law, we firmly reject its abuse by judges, officials, and elites who manipulate legal processes to dispossess struggling communities. Such actions deepen injustice, inflame public anger, and erode trust in the state.

STAND calls on all Liberians (especially affected communities) to peacefully but forcefully resist illegal evictions and defend their land rights within the confines of the law. We denounce what has become a “Bloody Bulldozer” campaign against the poor and perceived opponents of the Boakai-led government, and we reaffirm our commitment to nonviolent resistance in defense of the people, their lands, and constitutional order.

The Saye Town demolition is not only inhumane; it also violates Liberia’s Constitution, including Articles 20(a) and 22(a); the Land Rights Act of 2018; and applicable tenure laws. It further breaches Liberia’s binding international obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 11), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Articles 14, 16, and 18), and the UN Guidelines on Forced Evictions.

In solidarity with the victims of Saye Town, STAND will deploy civil rights advocates and community organizers to support affected families in protecting their land & mobilizing for peaceful civil actions in pursuit of justice. We further call on local and international humanitarian organizations to urgently assist Saye Town’s displaced residents, now left without shelter, food, water, or healthcare.

It is beyond dispute that the Saye Town demolition tragedy is unlawful, unconstitutional, and intolerable. Accordingly, as we prepare to engage additional competent lawyers to fight for these vulnerable victims, we will also go to Saye Town to stand with our displaced brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and their children; to remain with them, sleep under tents if necessary, struggle with them, and defend them until their lands and rights are fully restored.

We take this stand because failure to act risks pushing the country toward deeper instability and social breakdown. STAND remains resolute in preventing that outcome through sustained, peaceful resistance.

#Touch1TouchAll

The defense of land rights in Saye Town is the defense of constitutional governance in Liberia.