A member of the Democracy Hub legal team, Prince Ganaku, has accused the Ghana Police Service of unlawfully arresting over 46 protesters during a three-day demonstration against the government’s handling of the economic crisis and illegal mining, known as galamsey.
Ganaku further claimed that the police refused to provide a full list of the arrested individuals, leaving members of the group to search the streets of Accra for the missing demonstrators.
Speaking to Umaru Sanda Amadu on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, Ganaku also alleged that the detainees are being held in different cells across the country, denied legal representation, and will be arraigned in court on Tuesday, September 23.
“In our attempt to get them bail, we engaged with the police and they declined to give us the list of people who have been arrested. We were told, and to quote the police, ‘to go and roam the streets of Accra and if we find them, fine. If we don’t find them, fine.”
“We heard that there was an order from above that they should not allow those that they arrested to get access to legal representation and so they have taken them to different locations and the information we are getting is that they will detain them and arraign them for court tomorrow. All these are deliberate measures taken to punish the people.”
“We only know what the police told us. We know where certain people are but we don’t have a firm number as to the total number of people arrested,” Prince Ganaku added.