Ebola patients flee as armed men raid Liberia clinic

Police fired warning shots but failed to disperse several hundred people around the Ebola centre in Monrovia

Up to 20 patients infected with Ebola were unaccounted for on Sunday after they fled an armed raid on a quarantine centre in Monrovia by men who claimed the epidemic is a fiction.

Officials said blood-stained bedding looted from the centre posed a serious infection risk.

The protesters were unhappy that patients were being brought in from other parts of the capital, the assistant health minister said.

"They broke down the door and looted the place. The patients have all gone," said Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the attack out the outskirts of the Liberian capital.

Her report was confirmed by residents and the head of Health Workers Association of Liberia, George Williams.

Mr Williams said the unit housed 29 patients who "had all tested positive for Ebola" and were receiving preliminary treatment before being taken to hospital.

"Of the 29 patients, 17 fled last night (after the assault). Nine died four days ago and three others were yesterday (Saturday) taken by force by their relatives" from the centre, he said.

A senior police officer said blood-stained mattresses, beddings and medical equipment were taken from the centre.

"This is one of the stupidest things I have ever seen in my life", he said.

The attackers, mostly young men armed with clubs, shouted that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf "is broke" and "there's no Ebola" in Liberia as they broke into the unit in a Monrovia suburb, Ms Wesseh said.

He said the looting spree could threaten to spread the virus to the whole of the West Point area.

Residents also had opposed the creation of the centre, set up by health authorities in part of the city considered an epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the Liberian capital.

 

"We told them not to (build) their camp here. They didn't listen to us," said a young resident, who declined to give his name.

"We don't believe in this Ebola outbreak."

Health experts say that the key to ending the Ebola outbreak is to stop it spreading in Liberia, where ignorance about the virus is high and many people are reluctant to cooperate with medical staff.