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May 15, 2011 - Freetown Police evict 150 polio victims and families using tear gas. Police take the sewing machines that are their livelihood. One baby died from the tear gas.
Concord Times (Freetown)
Sierra Leone: Disabled Decry Eviction Order
By Ibrahim Tarawallie, 12 March 2011
Freetown — Members of the disabled group Handicap Youth Development Association (HYDA) have registered their resentment over an eviction order by the Sierra Leone judiciary to vacate their current premises.
In a very angry tone, executive director of HYDA, Mohamed A. Kamara, informed journalists that the said eviction order was issued to them last week in connection with the 15 Ecowas Street premises they currently occupy, which he said was being claimed by the Freetown City Council.
There was an agreement between us, the Freetown City Council and the ministry of Social Welfare which clearly states that we should stay here until the council finds a place to relocate us. We have held several meetings with the council in a bid to settle this matter but nothing positive came out of those meetings, he explained.
Kamara said their occupancy of the premises came as a result of the need to provide accommodation for disabled people who were left homeless as a result of the decade-long civil conflict in the country.
The attitude of the FCC is one of aggression. The lives of occupants of the premises have improved greatly due to the numerous development projects undertaken by HYDA. We are not interested in any violent actions but rather prefer a gentle negotiation to resolve the problem, he noted.
According to Kamara, the FCC keeps piling pressure on us deliberately, forgetting that we are homeless and no arrangement is being made for our relocation.
He called on President Koroma to intervene and save them from forceful eviction or make alternative arrangement for them, among others. The HYDA executive director said their membership will resist any attempt to forcefully evict them without any alternative being provided.
President of the Sierra Leone Union of Disability Issues (SLUDI), Kabba Franklyn Bangura, described the eviction order as fake because HYDA was not given the opportunity to prove their case.
He said his organization will stand by HYDA in whatever they were planning to do, while at the same time challenging the court eviction order.
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