It can be recalled that in early April 1979, former President William R. Tolbert's 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 continue farming instead of abandoning their farms for jobs in the cities or on the rubber plantations.
However, political opponents criticized the proposal as self-serving; 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 en route by more than 10,000 "back street boys" causing the march to quickly degenerate into a disorderly mob of riot and destruction. Widespread looting ensued with damage to private property estimated at over $40 million. Tolbert's credibility was severely damaged by the rice riots.