Police drag organizers of Arise Ghana demo to court
Conveners disagree with Police directives on location and duration
Demo scheduled to take place between June 28 – 29, 2022
The Ghana Police Service will face organizers of the Arise Ghana demonstration in court today, June 27, 2022.
The Police wants the court to make a determination on the decision by organizers to undertake a protest that will travel into the night and also result in a picket at the Presidency.
Arise Ghana responds to suit
Per a post on a social media page purported to be that of the group, Arise Ghana stated that the Police showed bad faith.
“Court action against Arise Ghana Demo brought in bad faith,” the post accompanied with a court document read.
“None of our members have been served. We are surprised that after an agreement with the police they have gone to court. They are going to court to do what?” Rex Omar, one of the conveners of the group told Accra-based 3FM ahead of the court hearing.
What the organizers had planned
Arise Ghana after a series of meetings, informed the Police in a letter dated June 8, 2022, that instead of two continuous days of protest as earlier communicated, the demonstration will start on the first day (June 28) at 3 pm and end at 10 pm and resume the next day.
Despite advice by Police that they start and end the protest before nightfall, the conveners responded that, “they are unable to change the time of the demonstration,” a Police statement dated June 26 read.
Why police wanted a compromise on time and place of protest
According to the statement, in response to Arise Ghana’s notice, Police “urged that in order to adequately ensure the safety of demonstrators and other members of the public, the demonstration should not travel into the night
“In the interest of public order and safety, we entreated the organisers to reconsider their time frame and start the demonstration early in the day and end before night falls,” the statement added.
Why Police went to court
“Due to the lack of agreement between the Police and the organisers on the time for the demonstration and location for their planned picketing, the Police have had no option but to submit the process to the court for a determination,” the statement signed by Grace Ansah-Akrofi of the Public Affairs Directorate stated.
The Police said it had communicated its move to the Arise Ghana group and further assured the public of their readiness to provide security to the protesters once the court makes its determination.
Read the full statement released by the police below:
Main issues underpinning the protest
Arise Ghana describes itself as a group comprising political party leaders, media practitioners, civil society players, creative arts, trades union among others determined to relentlessly champion the common cause of the Ghanaian people.
The group state that they also want to provide a voice for the voiceless and seek reforms that would bring about the needed change in the socio-economic, politico-social, and general wellbeing of the Ghanaian citizenry.
According to a recent statement, the historic two-day demonstration is primarily to protest persistent and astronomical hikes in fuel prices by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government that has imposed excruciating economic hardships on Ghanaians.
It said it was also to protest the imposition of the obnoxious E-Levy on the already-burdened Ghanaian people by the insensitive Akufo-Addo/Bawumia Government and demand a full scale and bi-partisan parliamentary probe into COVID-19 expenditures.
Others are to protest the grabbing of State lands by officials of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, particularly the de-classification of huge portions of the Achimota Forest reserve.
The rest are to protest the increased rate of police brutalities and state-sponsored killing of innocent Ghanaians, as well as the growing culture of human rights abuses under the watch of President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and demand the total cancelation of the fraudulent “Agyapa” deal.
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