Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah has described recent events in the country as signs of attempts to create instability.
He listed the violent incidents of June 28, 2022 during Day 1 of the Arise Ghana protests and the case of #FixTheCountry campaigners demanding to hold a protest with arms, weeks ago.
The Minister stressed that the two incidents gave a clear trajectory of attempts at instability, linking same to terrorist alerts in recent times.
“There is an obvious attempt to create instability in our country, we don’t need to mince words about it. And there is a trajectory, first there was a group that wanted to demonstrate with weapons.
“Then there was this group that said they wanted to demonstrate from the evening throughout the night till the next morning and the Police raise obvious questions…” he stressed.
He continued: “This is even daytime, in broad daylight at Obra Spot here in Accra and you have people attacking police people in this manner, can you imagine what could have happened at night if indeed some of these things were allowed to continue.”
He further accused the demonstrators of breaching the order given by the court relative to the approved route.
He said the Police had confirmed at a National Security briefing that tear gas was first fired at their personnel who had formed a barricade to force the protesters to use the agreed upon route.
Brief of what we know so far:
Police have announced the arrest of 29 people in connection with violent incidents that marred the June 28, 2022 Arise Ghana demonstration at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
According to a statement dated June 28 and signed by Chief Superintendent Grace Ansah-Akrofi, Director of Public Affairs, the Police were also reviewing available footage with the view to making more arrests if need be.
“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…” the June 28, 2022 statement added.
The statement further disclosed that leaders of the protest will be arrested and arraigned for the attacks and damage to property according to provisions under relevant laws.
In an earlier statement, the Police said a dozen of its officers were injured in the clash and were receiving treatment at the Police Hospital.
It was observed that stones were thrown at the police by some irate supporters following which tear gas and rubber bullets were fired as police moved to thwart the change of route for the protests.
Water canon was also deployed as some protesters mounted road blocks by burning tyres in the middle of the road.
Arise Ghana, an amalgamation of groups and individuals organized the two-day protest to highlight the rising cost of living and issues of misgovernance.
Despite a court order relative to time and route of the protest, the leaders insisted on following a route other than the one ordered by the court, an insistence by the Police that they obey the agreed upon route resulted in the skirmishes.
Posted by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh/Disclaimer
