By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Minority Caucus in Ghana’s Parliament has condemned in the strongest terms the police brutalities and arrest of peaceful protesters participating in the #OccupyJulorbiHouse on Thursday, September 21, 2023.
Before the group could assemble to start the street protest, heavily armed officers of the Ghana Police Service closed in on the group, arresting and assaulting over 49 of their members, who are alleged to have defied a last-minute injunction application from the force.
In a press release issued by the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the NDC MPs expressed their outrage at the excessive force of the police to quell such a peaceful protest in demand for a reduction in the cost of living, an end to corruption, and improved governance.
“The Minority in Parliament is outraged at and disappointed in the Ghana Police Service for
unleashing a terror squad of police officers who, on Thursday, shamefully brutalised and
arrested peaceful protesters in Accra.
It is shocking and unacceptable that in 2023 officers of the Ghana Police Service would
resort to backward and archaic policing methods to counter peaceful protesters who were
only manifesting their lawful and constitutionally guaranteed right.
We condemn in no uncertain terms the police officers’ ruthless and barbaric crackdown on
the unarmed peaceful protesters. For a police service that has been badly and widely criticised for its partisan policing methods in recent years, and for which a parliamentary probe is currently ongoing, the 16th-century style crackdown and terror unleashed by them on the peaceful protesters in Accra yesterday further dims the reputation of the Ghana Police Service. Even more shocking is the fact that the heinous and high-handedness of the police is inconsistent with its motto of Service with Integrity,” portions of the statement read.
Read the full statement below:
The Minority in Parliament is outraged at and disappointed in the Ghana Police Service for
unleashing a terror squad of police officers who on Thursday shamefully brutalised and
arrested peaceful protesters in Accra.
It is shocking and unacceptable that in 2023 officers of the Ghana Police Service would
resort to backward and archaic policing methods to counter peaceful protesters who were
only manifesting their lawful and constitutionally guaranteed right.
We condemn in no uncertain terms the police officers’ ruthless and barbaric crackdown on
the unarmed peaceful protesters. For a police service that is badly and widely criticised for
its partisan policing methods in recent years, and for which a parliamentary probe is currently ongoing, the 16th-century style crackdown and terror unleashed by them on the peaceful protesters in Accra yesterday further dims the reputation of the Ghana Police Service. Even more shocking is the fact that the heinous and high-handedness of the police is inconsistent with its motto of Service with Integrity.
Reports say as many as 49 unarmed civilians have been arrested and detained in various
police cells in Accra while several others were brutalised and manhandled by officers of the
Ghana Police Service. Even journalists who were carrying out their lawful duties were
reportedly beaten and arrested by the police. This is unacceptable and undemocratic.
Never has there been a time in our recent democratic experience that a government would
be this intolerant of divergent views and the right to publicly protest, and the sad events of
Thursday represents a new low on this slippery path. It cannot be accepted that when
citizens decide to express their right to protest, the police frustrate and scuttle the
processes leading to the peaceful protest or where the protesters remain resolute by holding the protest, the police brutally crack down on them.
The Minority is appalled that the Ghana Police Service is increasingly seen to be lending
itself to a regime of terror and tyranny that is being meted out to critics of this intolerant
Akufo-Addo/Bawumia New Patriotic Party government. How can the Ghana Police justify its
actions today by stating that they were a result of “the flagrant disregard of the court
process served on the organisers” of the demonstration? Since when has the Ghana Police
Service been clothed with the authority to punish people who disregard a lawful court order, assuming there was any such order? The courts are clothed with powers to deal with those who disobey their lawful orders. The Ghana Police Service therefore cannot usurp the role of the courts.
We hold the view that the right to freely protest and civil liberties are under great threat
from the Ghana Police Service which has decided to usurp the authority of the courts and
act as law unto itself. The Minority further takes great exception to the new-found penchant
of the Police to designate public places such as the premises of the Jubilee House and other
state institutions as so-called “security zones”, when these very institutions hosted similar
protests in times past. This is an obvious attempt by the Police to shield public officials from
accountability and the same shall be fiercely resisted.
The Minority hereby demands the immediate and unconditional release of all protesters
who have been arrested. As efforts are underway to free all those who have been
unlawfully detained by the Police, we wish to assure the leaders of the protest, all
protesters and their families that the Minority firmly stands with them. Our national anthem
encourages us to resist oppressors’ rule and that we will do!
Finally, we wish to remind the police and the Akufo-Addo/ Bawumia government that no
amount of intimidation can stop the people of Ghana from holding the feet of appointees
and duty-bearers to the fire of accountability, and they must brace themselves for more
civic action. We shall remain citizens and not spectators!
END
HON. CASSIEL ATO FORSON, MP
MINORITY LEADER