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A leader of the Arise Ghana demonstrators, Edem Agbana, has blamed the occurrence of Tuesday’s clash on police officers deployed to enforce law and order during the former’s protest.
According to the National Democratic Congress Organizer, the officers effectuated the clash without a cause.
“We came here to do a very peaceful protest, and after we reached an agreement with the police, they abruptly told us that they were breaking that agreement” he said in an interview granted Joy News which was monitored by Angelonline.com.gh.
Quite contrary to the allegation, however, report reaching this website indicates that the protestors drifted from the specified route for the demonstration which is from Farisco through TUC to the Independence Square.
According to the Ghana Police Service, the drift informed the personnel’s decision to control and redirect the crowd to follow the approved route.
But the actions of the law enforcers displeased the demonstrators who resorted to pelting stones and other missiles at the police, to which the officers responded by firing tear gas and using their water canons to disperse the rout.
That notwithstanding, Mr Agbana blamed authorities saying people at the Flag Staff House are the ones to be held accountable for the incident.
“If we had an independent police force and Dampare had not agreed to serve as the organization’s spokesperson for violence, we would not be where we are today,” he said.
“They told us to proceed to the independence square instead of the ring road, which would have taken us to the Flagstaff house. We have a written agreement with them that requires us to use the ring road.
“We filed a state of execution with the court so they do not come in now. The only thing we are saying is that the police department has allowed the Akufo-Addo administration to utilize them to forward this goal, but we are not scared in the least.
“Even though he had a meeting with them today, his men are not cordial. One policeman told me that he was going to shoot at the crowd, but I warned him to shoot me first since I was leading the protest” he said adding “Dampare is a well-known IGP who enjoys speaking positively into the camera despite his other behaviour”.
