Impunity for police abuses is deeply entrenched in Sierra Leone. For years, authorities and law-enforcement agencies routinely outlawed peaceful protests, used disproportionate force against demonstrators and limited citizens’ right to freedom of peaceful assembly. With the election of a new government in March 2018, Sierra Leone now has a chance to put in effect the promises of reforms and human rights improvements its citizens have fought for. This report focuses on how Sierra Leone has impermissibly restricted the right to peaceful assembly, often through use of excessive and lethal force by the police.
