The Ghana Police Service has cleared the youth wing of the National Democratic Congress to embark on their intended “March for Justice” demonstration on Tuesday, July 6, 2021.
The police had earlier declined an invitation to provide security for the demonstrators on the basis that COVID-19 restrictions were still imposed.
But the NDC insisted on embarking on the protest, rubbishing the reasons for denying their request.
The police, according to the Youth Organiser of the NDC, George Opare Addo however rescinded their earlier decision after a crunch meeting between the two parties.
“We had a very fruitful meeting. They have agreed that they will allow us to protest. They withdrew the first letter they wrote to us, and so we also withdrew our statement we issued, and then they agreed that it was our democratic right to demonstrate, so it was not a difficult meeting at all,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NDC has called on #FixTheCountry protestors who have in the past been denied their request to protest to join hands with them given that their concerns are similar.
Purpose of protest
The NDC youth wing had notified the police that it will organize a street protest dubbed ‘A March for Justice’ on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, to demand justice for all persons killed or brutalized by the various security agencies in the country.
In a letter written to the Inspector General of Police, the NDC youth wing said it was writing to the police in accordance with the Public Order Act (491).
But the Regional Police Command’s explanation in rejecting the group’s request referred to Section 4 of the Public Order Act 1994 (ACT 491) particularly concerning public health.
“Restrictions imposed by the Executive Instrument (EI) 395 to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have still not been lifted”, the police stated.
This did not sit well with the youth wing as they threatened to go ahead with their planned demonstration despite the Police Service’s refusal to provide protection.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), James Oppong-Boanuh subsequently requested to meet the leaders of the youth wing over their planned demonstration.
