"We Are Not Riding in Peace," Motorcyclists Decry Harassment over Parking Space in Red-light

Paynesville, Liberia: Several aggrieved motorcyclists plying through the Red Light to ELWA Junction and Fendell corridors have expressed serious frustration over what they termed as the lack of designated parking lots in the Red Light area.

The group of aggrieved motorcyclists narrated to K-News on Monday, June 9, 2025, that, since the expansion of the Coca-Cola Factory to the ELWA Junction Road corridor, they are yet to be given a specific parking space by the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC) to smoothly carry out their daily transportation services.

The group highlighted that due to the constraint of parking lots in the area, many motorcyclists have faced constant harassment by police officers for squatting along the roadsides in the red-light belt.

The commercial hub of Red Light in Paynesville City is believed to be the biggest commercial hub in the country, where thousands of motorcyclists ply through different corridors to earn and sustain their livelihoods.

Expressing his grievances about the situation, one of the aggrieved motorcyclists, Thomas Paul, stated that since the ascendency of the Boakai-Koung Administration, they have faced tense pressure getting a parking space and moving freely in the area.

He explained that though motorcyclists faced some challenges under the immediate past administration plying through the different corridors of the Red Light, the current situation, where their seizure of bikes has increased, indicates that they are not riding in peace.

"Since the ascendency of President Joseph Boakai, we are not at peace in Red Light when it comes to running motorbikes. Where we normally used to be, there was no one used to hamper us under the previous administration,” Thomas stated.

"We don't have freedom now. When we are parking, before you look, you will see police officers will just come and seize our bikes and carry them to the container site and will be requesting a thousand dollars. We are not causing any form of traffic where we decided to park for now; besides, we have not been given a specific parking space," he added.

For his part, Michael Hallie noted that the frequent arrest of their bikes due to constraints of the parking lots continues to pose a serious setback to their daily earnings on the traffic.

According to Hallie, motorcyclists in the area normally face difficulty in picking up and dropping off passengers, saying, "The harassment of motorcyclists is rampant." Imagine, we do not easily pick up and drop off passengers."

"The reason we are focusing on the park here is that it is where we get our living from. Sometimes when our bikes are seized, it takes almost the whole day before releasing them, and it affects our earnings on the traffic," Michael Hallie emphasized.

Alarming over the risk the situation poses, the motorcyclists disclosed that riding under fear of being arrested for parking along the road has sometimes resulted in accidents when hurriedly escaping from police officers.

Meanwhile, the aggrieved motorcyclists, at the same time, called on the government, through the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC), to swiftly intervene and designate a parking lot in the Red-light area.