Below are highlights of the past week in photos.

Activists gathered under the banner of the Campaigners and Victims for Justice staged a peaceful protest calling for the establishment of a war crimes court in the country. However, days after the protest, when President George Weah returned to the country from a trip to Europe, he said Liberians need to choose between development and a war crimes court. “We all have different minds and views on this issue. Some are calling for war crimes court; others are calling for reconciliation. What we need to do is to find out what we need as people. We, the leaders, are under obligation to do for our people and nation what is in their best interest. Liberians need to come together to talk about the advancement of the country.”

Substance abusers, commonly referred to as ‘zogos,’ petitioned President George Weah to establish a drug rehabilitation program to address their plight.

Many of the individuals regularly partake in the use of harmful or hazardous psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. They can usually be identified by their visibly gaunt figures and the fact that many of them earn income as car loaders.

In Weah’s absence, both Monrovia’s Mayor Jefferson Koijee and the office of Nathaniel McGill, minister of state, received copies of the petition.

Health practitioners celebrate World Diabetes Day in Monrovia. The day was created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization in response to growing concerns about the health threats posed by diabetes.

The Lutheran Church organized a march to campaign against violence against women, known as “Thursdays in Black.” The globally recognized movement was started in the 1980s by the World Council of Churches as a form of peaceful protest against rape and violence. It was revived in 2013.

Few filling stations across Monrovia still appear to be out of gasoline Photo Zeze Ballah

Paynesville City Corporation officials distribute food to the E. S. Grant Mental Health Center that they seized from petty traders at Paynesville’s Red Light Market. The city has been enforcing an ordinance that prevents selling on Sundays, to the frustration of petty traders.

Ministry of Education officially launched its WASSCE Saturday Classes program. The program is a weekly tutorial programs that aims to prepare students for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Exams. Events will be held every Saturday at 102 centers across the country. Only 35 percent of seniors taking last year’s exam passed and the ministry is trying to ensure that students are better prepared.

All photos by Zeze Ballah