The #OccupyJulorbiHouse series of protests which commenced on Thursday, September 21, 2023, was characterised by several disruptions such as the arrest of protesters by the police, and an altercation between the police and protesters among others.
The protest, which started as a peaceful one, ended just when it started at the 37 ‘trotro’ station in the Greater Accra Region.
One of the victims of the arrests which many lawyers have described as illegal was the convenor for the #FixTheCountry movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor.
Despite the discomfort in the custody of the police, Barker-Vormawor is unperturbed and is prepared to demonstrate against the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the second leg of the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protest today, Friday, September 22, 2023.
In a tweet on the X app, Barker-Vormawor communicated that he had packed items for his jail stay today should he be picked up by the police again.
“I just set off from my house for day 2 of #OccupyJulorbiHouse. We are meeting at 37 Troto Station. I don’t know what the police plan to do. But I have packed my jail pack. 1 boxer shorts, 1 towel, 1 Dettol, 1 mosquito repellent. May posterity remember the price of their freedom!” Oliver tweeted.
Background: The #OccupyJulorbiHouse protests:
On Day 1 (September 21) of the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protests by the Democracy Hub, a group of young activists, and police rounded up 49 protesters who were marching to demand action on the prevailing economic crisis and corruption.
The arrests, especially how they were conducted by the police, triggered harsh criticisms of impeding the constitutional right to protest and deploying highhandedness on the part of the police.
Police sent the detainees to the regional headquarters before splitting them up into about eight police stations dotted across the capital, even as colleague protesters and lawyers worked to secure bail for the detained persons.
I just set off from my house for day 2 of #OccupyJulorbiHouse
We are meeting at 37 trotro Station. I don't know what the police plan to do. But i have packed my jail pack. 1 boxer shorts, 1 towel, 1 dettol, 1 mosquito repellent.
May posterity remember the price of their… pic.twitter.com/LcvNCIm0fn
— Osagyefo Oliver Barker-Vormawor (@barkervogues) September 22, 2023
In this process, other journalists and protesters who massed up, especially at the Accra Regional Police Command, encountered some amount of police violence, including shoving, forced detention, seizure of phones, and, in the case of others, physical assault.
In their first of two statements on the day, police said the arrests were justified because protesters were defying a court injunction served on them, which they (protesters) denied had been properly served.
The second statement addressed the purported arrest of a BBC journalist and his cameraman, which the police dismissed as untrue.
By the close of the day, almost all detained protesters, per GhanaWeb checks, had been released from detention on bail. It remains to be seen whether Day Two of the three-day protest targeting the seat of government, the Jubilee House, will come off today (September 22, 2023).