At least 29 people in Liberia, including 11 children and a pregnant woman, have died in a crowd crush of worshippers in a densely populated area of the capital, Monrovia, officials say. The crush occurred when a gang of thugs armed with knives attacked some of the hundreds of people attending the ceremony at about 9pm on Wednesday night, a police spokesperson, Moses Carter, said. President George Weah, visited the scene on Thursday and declared three days of national mourning. He said there should be regulations on how prayer ceremonies, which Liberians call “crusades”, were conducted. The measures, he said, should limit the number of people allowed to attend, based on the size of the venue. Even though “we all are religious people”, everyone should be willing to comply with these regulations for safety reasons, he said. The Red Cross has erected tents near the site for families to come in with photos to identify the bodies of their loved ones. Street gangs have become an increasing problem in Monrovia and other Liberian cities in recent years, residents say.
SOURCE: CNN