Accra, Ghana//-Protestors who showed up within the vicinity of the Jubilee House for the #OccupyJulorBiHouse demonstration have been arrested.
A video on social media posted by Oliver Barker Vormawor showed the protestors in black and red seated in a bus.
“We don’t know where they are taking us,” he said.
He noted that they were disappointed in the actions of the police.
He stated that the country had weaponised the police to suppress demonstrators adding “They have no right to arrest demonstrators in the country. This is not the democracy we signed up for. This is not a democracy.”
Mr. Vormawor called on legal practitioners to show up at the police headquarters to provide legal assistance to the arrested demonstrators.
He also called on the public and media for support.
The Accra-based civil society group organising the protest, Democracy Hub, had earlier notified the Ghana Police Service of their planned demonstration on Nkrumah Memorial Day to call on “the President and members of the Economic Management Team to #FixTheCountry in light of the level of economic mismanagement and theft that has engulfed our government from the highest levels.”
But on the eve of the event, the police secured an injunction from the court barring the protest from moving forth.
In response the organisers revealed that they had not been served the court documents and as such had the right to stage the demonstration.
However, the police insisted it had served the lawyers of the organisers and urged members of the public to avoid participating in an “unlawful” demonstration.
On Thursday, the demonstration came off but was short-lived. Following the arrest, the police have maintained a heavy presence at the Jubilee House.
Scores of police personnel in crowd control vehicles and riot gear have lined up on the streets in front of the seat of government.
Arrest of protesters shameful, unlawful – Sammy Gyamfi
Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, says the arrest of protesters at the 37 Trotro station is not only unlawful, but shameful and backward.
This was after individuals who had joined Accra-based civil society group, Democracy Hub, to demonstrate against the rising cost of living and high levels of corruption in the country were rounded up by the police and bused to the Accra Regional Police Command where they are still being kept.
According to Sammy Gyamfi, the police’s action is an odious abuse of fundamental human rights, and should not happen in any democratic country governed by the rule of law.
“Even more reprehensible is the fact that, some of the unlawfully arrested protestors have had their phones illegally siezed and have been subjected to beatings and all manner of inhumane and degrading treatments by the Ghana Police Service,” he added.
He stated that what is more disappointing is the fact that this “heinous barbarism is happening under the watch and leadership of an IGP, who many thought will be different.”
Some Ghanaian netizens are expressing their disappointment in the Ghana Police Service for arresting about 50 protestors participating in the #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstration.
Organisers of the planned picket of Jubilee House dubbed #OccupyJulorBiHouse went ahead with the demonstration despite warnings from the police to stop the protest.
The demonstration aims to demand a range of reforms, including a reduction in the cost of living, an end to corruption, and improved governance.
But about few hours before the day of the protest, the police filed an application for injunction seeking to prohibit the protest from moving forth.
However, on September 21, 2023, about hundreds of protesters gathered at the 37 Trotro Station in Accra to protest.
Reports have it that approximately 50 members of the group are currently in custody at the regional police headquarters in Accra Central, including the #FixtheCountry convener, Oliver Barker Vormawor.
Several Ghanaians have responded to the police’s interference on social media. Below are some of their reactions.
