The Ghana
Police Service says 29 demonstrators who took part in Tuesday’s demonstrations
organised by the Arise Ghana movement, have been arrested for their part in the
violence that occasioned the event.
The police in a statement say
they are also looking to arrest organisers of the demonstration, as well as
others to be identified through video footages of the demonstration, to face
the law over the violent turnout and damage to property.
The two-day demonstration,
scheduled to continue on Wednesday according to organisers, is to protest
“persistent and astronomical hikes in fuel prices” and their attendant
“excruciating economic hardships on Ghanaians”, the imposition of E-Levy, the
grabbing of State lands by officials and the de-classification of huge portions
of the Achimota Forest reserve, increased police brutalities and
state-sponsored killing of innocent Ghanaians, as well as demand a full scale
and bi-partisan parliamentary probe into COVID-19 expenditures, and the total
cancelation of the Agyapa deal.
The demonstrators clashed with the police following disagreements over routes
prescribed for the march. The High Court had on Monday directed that the march
be restrained to routes proposed by the police and should run between 8am and
4pm, but the demonstrators who say they had appealed against the court
decision, insisted on sticking to their original plan - to picket at the
frontage of Jubilee House into the night.
Below is a statement by the police.
POLICE UPDATE: TWENTY-NINE (29) DEMONSTRATORS ARRESTED. OTHERS
BEING PURSUED
1. The Police have arrested 29
demonstrators for their participation in violent attacks on the Police and some
members of the public including school children during the Arise Ghana
demonstration in Accra today.
2. Available video footages of
the event are being reviewed and all other persons identified for taking part
in the attacks as well as inciting the violence will be arrested and brought to
face justice.
3. Also, the organisers of the
demonstration will be arrested and put before court for the attacks and damage
to public property, in line with the provisions of Section 3 of the Public
Order Act, (Act 491).
4. Meanwhile, the Police would like to draw the attention
of the public to the calculated falsehood and misinformation being peddled by
the organisers and their cohorts. We urge the public to disregard the untruths
and treat them with the contempt they deserve, for the footages and images of
the event speak for themselves.
5. We would like to assure the
public that we remain committed and professionally measured in the discharge of
our constitutional mandate of enforcing law and order in the country.
Source:graphic.com.gh