What the protesters on the #OccupyJulorBiHouse set out to do was to simply embark on a peaceful protest to the seat of Ghana’s government – the Jubilee House, but the events of Thursday, September 21, 2023, will leave worse than good news for these citizens.
Spearheaded by the Democracy Hub, a group of young activists intended to picket the seat of government from Thursday, Saturday 21, to Saturday, September 23, 2023, to demand “the President and members of the Economic Management Team to #FixTheCountry in light of the level of economic mismanagement and theft that has engulfed our government from the highest levels.”
But not a lot, or even anything, was achieved by the group.
Below is a breakdown of the major highs and lows of the first day of the protest:
In a conflicting start to their protest, the Ghana Police Service had stated that it had served the group with an application for an injunction on their protest, the leaders of the protest denied knowledge of any such thing.
They, therefore, urged the public to disregard the police statement and assemble at their starting point – 37 Trotro Station, for onward march to the Jubilee House.
But when the day started (September 21), the police took over in a widely-reported violent style, completely turning the protest into an arresting-spree.
And from reports, it did not matter who it was, as long as the police had such people within its reach, or for those they tagged as ‘suspicious.’
Young basketball player mistaken as protester arrested
That was the case of a young basketball player who was mistaken for a protester.
Without any prompting, the young man was arrested alongside demonstrators at the #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstration, while he was returning from his usual training session on that Thursday morning.
According to the mother of the young boy, she received a distress call informing her of her son’s arrest.
Speaking to GhanaWeb, the mother of the basketball player, who wished to remain anonymous, said her son was mistaken for a protester because he was wearing a red T-shirt.
The visibly distressed woman mentioned that she has not been able to reach her son since arriving at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters.
‘Try it’ – Bridget Otoo fumes as police ‘cocks gun’ during demo
Having also been informed of the case of this young basketball player, broadcast journalist, Bridget Otoo, who told reporters that she preferred to be called a protester who was being a citizen, not a spectator (making reference to an infamous statement by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo), also made efforts to get the young man released.
But her attempt was abruptly foiled when she, and others who had massed up at the entrance of the Greater Accra Regional Police Headquarters, were harassed and physically assaulted by some police personnel.
In an audio heard by GhanaWeb during a Twitter Space on Thursday, Bridget Otoo lambasted the police personnel at the Accra Regional Command for brutalizing innocent protestors and cocking their guns at them.
“You are cocking your guns, you are cocking your guns! Try it!” Bridget Otoo was heard saying.
The heart-wrenching audio follows widespread arrests of protestors who were denied access to protest peacefully on September 21, 2023.
Reports also said that as at that time, over 350 protesters, including organizers of the Democracy Hub group, were in police custody for defying a police order with regard to a court injunction placed on the planned demonstration.
‘Kill her right now and let’s see’ – Bridget Otoo’s husband fumes after police harasses wife
And having been notified on what was happening to his wife, Dr. Evans Ago Tetteh, is reported to have rushed to the scene of the action in anger.
Dr Evans Ago Tetteh is captured in a viral video, challenging the police to the intended action he tried to exact on her and see what comes out of it.
The visibly furious husband was heard saying in Ga, “Let them kill her and let’s see. This is a foolish thing to do. I’ll show them I am a man. I am right here. Let any police officer come try me and let’s see.”
This also follows allegations of harassment against his wife, Bridget Otoo, during the widely-participated anti-government demonstration, #OccupyJulorbiHouse.
‘We were promised one million dollars to stop demo’ – FixTheCountry advocates makes shocking allegation
Later, advocates of the FixTheCountry movement, who were an instrumental part of the protest, made a shocking allegation that they were offered a staggering one million dollars to halt the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protest.
The allegation, made through the official FixTheCountry Twitter account, shed light on the efforts made to thwart the protest.
Reacting to the harassment and intimidation by the police to their peaceful protest, the group said in a tweet that, “Since they want it this way we will talk. The cabinet promised us $1 million if only we can stop the demonstration. We rejected! We want a better Ghana.”
BBC reporter, cameraman, other journalists arrested, manhandled
And while there were several reports of protesters being harassed, there were several others of journalists too caught in the middle of all of this.
BBC reporter, Thomas Naadi, and his cameraman were named to have been arrested by the police during the #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstration, citinewsroom.com reports.
While Thomas Naadi was subsequently released, the incident underscored the height of the tensions surrounding the protest.
In addition to the BBC journalist, a Metro TV reporter also fell victim to police aggression during the otherwise peaceful demonstration, which commenced in the early hours of Thursday.
The police, however denied the arrest of the BBC crew, describing the news as an erroneous one that should be disregarded by the public.
Inusah Fuseini, Justice Sai storm Accra regional police head office over arrest of protesters
Needing the services of lawyers to get the several hundreds who had been Rambo-style arrested by the police, a former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini; and other legal practitioners, including Justice Srem-Sai, showed up at the Accra Regional Police Command, where protesters who were arrested for participating in the #OccupyJulorBiHouse demonstration were transported to.
They were there to secure the release of those who were arrested, while urging the protestors to remain calm as they will continue to engage with police to release those arrested.
“So, we will go and see what happens and what they are doing to the guys who were picked up,” he said.
Eventually, the lawyers shared good news; all the arrested protestors were released.
However, there were other stories, such as accusations that the police slapped and stole people’s phones, seized those of others, and targeted arrests and several others marred the protest.