Security Policy Expert at the Centre for Security Dialogue and Peace Advocacy, Anthony Acquaye has stressed the need to educate demonstrators and stakeholders in the #OccupyBoGprotest that comes off tomorrow to avoid the risk of violence during the demonstration.
This comes after the recent #OccupyJulorBiHouse demonstration, organised by a group called Democratic Hub on September 21, 2023, turned violent on the first day after the protestors clashed with the police service.
According to a statement by the expert, most peaceful demonstrations have, on several occasions, taken an unfortunate turn towards violence, this he said is the reason protestors must be educated to avoid a recurrence of violence.
Such incidents have been attributed to factors such as police brutality, breaches of planned routes by protesters, sudden route changes enforced by security personnel, and more.
To prevent a peaceful demonstration from turning violent, Mr. Acquaye has urged all stakeholders, including the police, protest organizers, individual demonstrators, and journalists, to collaboratively establish and understand the type of demonstration being conducted.
“As a Security Policy Expert, it is equally crucial to draw the attention of all stakeholders; the Police, organizers of demonstrations, individual protesters and journalists that, if the right type of demonstration is not collaboratively established and agreed by all major stakeholders, a peaceful demonstration can result in a violent demonstration.
“For a demonstration to be peaceful, it is cardinal to establish and understand the type of demonstration and how it is done among all stakeholders for the purpose of effective security operational command and control to ensure law and order,” part of the statement read.
To prevent potential violence, the security policy expert stressed the importance of educating protesters about the nature of the demonstration and its route.
He noted that it is essential to clarify that the protest will involve a Matching Demonstration combined with a Rally Demonstration, and protesters will not be allowed to occupy the Bank of Ghana.
“So, in actual sense, if clearly, the statements from the Minority leader and Ghana Police Service all agreed in principle then the title given to tomorrow's demonstration as ‘Occupy BOG Domo’ does not fit into the matching type of demonstration as have been agreed by both stakeholders but instead the picketing type of demonstration, this can create some kind of misunderstanding among protesters since they will not be allowed by the Police to occupy Bank of Ghana.
“To avoid crop up of violence, proper education must go down to the protesters for them to understand that, they are not going to occupy BOG but rather they will be having a route Match demonstration combined with Rally demonstration in order to prevent rise of anger on Police officers who may be seen as standing block to stop them from occupying BOG,” he stressed.
“Moreover, it is paramount to use this opportunity to advise the Ghana Police Service to be more professional in exercising their powers to ensure command and control to avoid the outbreak of violence, and to the organizers of the demonstration, who must also ensure they caution their members to avoid coming along with any offensive material such as stones, pepper spray catapults etc, that may trigger violence,” the statement added.
The planned demonstration which is expected to happen on October 3, 2023, by the minority together with some Civil social organisations is expected to begin at the Obra Spot, Kwame Nkrumah Circle - Adabraka - Ridge Roundabout - National Theatre Traffic Light - High Court Complex Traffic Light - Atta Mills Highway - U-turn to the Independence square as the final destination.
The aim according to the organisers is to have the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addisson and his deputies resign from office for the roles they played in plunging the country into the current economic crisis.
Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.
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Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.
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Click here to start the nomination process for the 2023 GhanaWeb Excellence Awards
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Expert call for citizens to be educated on the type of protest to avoid violence.