Curfew imposed in Liberian capital
MONROVIA, Liberia (Reuters) -- Liberia slapped an immediate curfew on the capital Monrovia on Friday after stick-wielding youths rampaged through the costal city, burning buildings, petrol stations and vehicles.
Witnesses said a dispute between Muslim and Christian residents near the Paynesville suburb late on Thursday had mushroomed into a full-scale riot which then spread to the hilly center of the coastal center on Friday morning.
Liberia's Information Minister William Allen said the curfew was announced on state radio by interim leader Gyude Bryant and would remain in force until further notice.
Plumes of smoke rose from Paynesville. Young men clutching sticks and machetes roamed nearby streets while U.N. peacekeepers in white jeeps and armored personnel carriers blocked a main road and tried to chase rioters back.
In the center of Monrovia banks and shops were closed and a group of angry former fighters with canisters of petrol on their heads was looking for things to burn. Thick smoke rose from a building in the town center.
Boys with sticks and rocks ran up and down the pot-holed streets as a U.N. helicopter clattered overhead. U.N. armored personnel carriers lined a street in the Mamba Point district which is home to most U.N. agencies and the U.S. embassy.
Liberia is struggling to emerge from nearly 14 years of war and the poor West African country is now home to 15,000 U.N. troops, the biggest peacekeeping force in the world.
More than 80,000 fighters have been disarmed but with a crippled economy, massive unemployment and few opportunities, youths, many of them ex-combatants, now vent their anger and frustration by rioting.
"We were provoked by a Christian yesterday when one of them beat our Muslim sister. When we went to find out, they tried to beat us. So we called for reinforcements. They have burned down our gas stations," said Amara Konneh, near Paynesville.
While Liberia has been wracked by war for nearly 14 years, battle lines have usually been drawn down lose ethnic or regional groupings, rather than on religious lines.
About 20 percent of Liberia's population is Muslim, 40 percent Christian and 40 percent animist.
However, the leadership and many of the LURD rebel fighters who ousted President Charles Taylor last year are from an ethnic group which is mostly Muslim.
"The Muslims were the ones who set three of our churches on fire. We have been living here on good terms but they have not reciprocated it. We want to see religious tolerance in this country," said Fred, a member of the Pentacostal church.
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