In 1975 the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) became the first legally recognized opposition party in Liberia since the country was founded. The party was initially formed among the Liberian diaspora in the United States and was led by Gabriel Baccus Matthews who espoused a quasi-Marxist ideology of militant African nationalism.
In early April 1979, the minister of agriculture, Florence Chenoweth, proposed an increase in the subsidized price of rice from $22 per 100-pound bag to $26. Chenoweth asserted that the increase would serve as an added inducement for rice farmers to stay on the land and produce rice as both a subsistence crop and a cash crop instead of abandoning their farms for jobs in the cities or on the rubber plantations. However, political opponents criticized the proposal as self-aggrandizement, pointing out that Chenoweth and the Tolbert family operated large rice farms and would therefore realize a tidy profit from the proposed price increase.
The Progressive Alliance of Liberia called for a peaceful demonstration in Monrovia to protest the proposed price increase. On April 14 about 2,000 activists began what was planned as a peaceful march on the Executive Mansion. However, the protest march swelled dramatically when the protesters were joined enroute by more than 10,000 "back street boys" causing the march to quickly degenerate into a disorderly mob of riot and destruction. Widespread looting of retail stores and rice warehouses ensued with damage to private property estimated to have exceeded $40 million. Troops were called in to reinforce police units in the capital who were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the rioters. In 12 hours of violence in the city's streets, at least 40 civilians were killed, and more than 500 were injured. Hundreds more were arrested.[1]
Tolbert's credibility was severely damaged by the Rice Riots.[2]