Police file suit to change duration of Arise Ghana demo

Arise Ghana did not agree with us on changing time for June 28 demo – Police

Arise Ghana demo scheduled to take place between June 28 – 29, 2022

The Ghana Police Service has indicated that it has filed a suit in court for the determination of the duration of the planned demonstration by Arise Ghana Coalition.

According to the Police, the suit filed was necessitated by the lack of agreement with the organisers of the demonstration on when the protest should start and the time it should end.

In a statement released on June 26, 2022, the police indicated that it wanted the demonstration to start early so that it can end before nightfall which the organisers were not in agreement with.

“Following a series of meetings, Arise Ghana informed the Police in a letter dated June 8, 2022, that instead of two continuous days, the demonstration will start on the first day at 3 pm and end at 10 pm and resume the next day.

“The Police … responded and 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. to

“… the Police received a verbal response from the organisers the effect that they are unable to change the time of the demonstration. 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,” portions of the statement issued by the police read.

It added that the court will be hearing its suit against the duration of the demo on Monday, June 27, 2022.

Main issues underpinning the protest

According to a recent statement by Arise Ghana, its historic two-day demonstration, which is scheduled for Tuesday, June 28, 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 Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and demand the total cancellation of the fraudulent “Agyapa” deal.

Read the full statement released by the police below: