Inspector General of the Ghana Police Service(IGP) Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, has asserted that the organisers of the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protest have not provided any evidence of police brutality, despite making extensive allegations.
During a year-end dialogue session with various stakeholders, Dr. Dampare stated that the organisers have failed to substantiate their claims of police assault and brutality, even though such allegations were raised on the first day of the three-day protest.
“Recently, there was some demonstration that they said they wanted to demonstrate for three days thereabout. We went through a process, and based on what they wanted to do, we served them.
“They said they still want to demonstrate, then the police went there, and then they said no, what they doing was unlawful gathering, so they picked about 48 people up just to discourage people from even showing up the more so that at the end of the day, we wait for the court to make a determination as to how the demonstration should go.
“As soon as they were arrested, they went round making all sorts of allegations and all sorts of noise and said police have brutalised us; they have done this; they have done that. I took it upon myself the following day to meet their leaders, some of them and told them that if we had respected the process and allowed the court to tell us how we should go about it, we wouldn’t get to where we have gotten to,” he said.
He continued, “But because you have succeeded with all the propaganda… and also the lies about the fact that the police have brutalised you, we will let you continue the demonstration, and we will let you finish with all the days that you want to do the demonstration, but we will challenge you to bring any evidence that speaks to the fact that you were brutalised.
“As I speak, after months of completing that demonstration to today, not a shred of evidence has been brought up to indicate that the police have brutalised them.”
Between September 21 and 23, 2023, a group of Ghanaians staged street protests to voice their concerns about economic challenges and governance issues.
The protest, known as #OccupyJulorbiHouse on its first day, was overshadowed by the arrest of more than 40 demonstrators, and the organizers accused the police of assault.
Nevertheless, the police have steadfastly denied any wrongdoing in response to these allegations.