Bloody Arise Ghana Demo leaves 12 police officers critically injured

Twelve police officers suffered various injuries as Arise Ghana demonstrators attacked police by hurling stones and other objects on Tuesday, 28 June 2022.

Some of the officers were left with bloodied faces and fractured skulls as they were directly pelted with stones by angry protestors.

A number of officers suffered bleeding from the head, while another got cuts on the ear as his uniform was drenched in blood.

Other cops appeared unsteady by the impact of the sizeable stones on their bloodied faces as they were not wearing helmets or protective gear.

The cops were detailed to provide protection and guide for the demonstration but ended up as victims of physical attacks from the mob of protestors.

The injured had to be transported by colleagues into mobile police hospital units that had been made available at the request of the police hierarchy before the start of the protests.

“Unfortunately and without any provocation, the demonstrators began pelting the police with stones.

“So far, 12 police officers who sustained various degrees of injuries and were treated in the Police Mobile Hospitals have been transferred to the Police Hospital for further treatment. Some police vehicles have also been damaged,” a release signed by the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Grace Ansah-Akrofi, said.

Protestors continued to vandalize property, including police buses that were completely damaged.

The angry crowd smashed the windows, windscreens and mirrors of the vehicles.

They also burned car tyres in the middle of the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, prompting heavily armed units in full crowd control gear to fire tear gas and water cannons to subdue the rioting and restore order.

The chaos also left some protestors with injuries, and the police made atleast three arrests.

The otherwise peaceful exercise turned violent halfway into the march as the protestors insisted on using unapproved routes prompting resistance from the law enforcement officers.

The chaos erupted after the police formed a human barricade to stop the protestors who insisted on using their original route along the Ring Road towards the Ako-Adjei Interchange.

The law enforcement agency has managed to clear a section of the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange to allow free movement of vehicles as they assured that “all those involved in this violent demonstration will be brought to face justice”.

The pressure group embarked on the protest dubbed #KromAyeShe to wit ‘The country is tough’ to address economic hardships in the country.

They believe Ghana is in deep economic and social crisis, and thus “the need to take drastic measures to rescue the country from the elite few”.

 

 

 

Motivation for the demonstration?

I) Protest against persistent and astronomical hikes in fuel prices by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government that has imposed excruciating economic hardships on Ghanaians.

II) Protest against the imposition of the obnoxious E-Levy on the already-burdened Ghanaian people by the insensitive Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government.

III) Demand a full-scale and bi-partisan parliamentary probe into COVID-19 expenditures.

IV) Protest against the grabbing of State lands by officials of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, particularly the de-classification of huge portions of the Achimota Forest Reserve.

V) Protest against the increased rate of police brutalities and state-sponsored killing of innocent Ghanaians, as well as the growing culture of human rights abuses under the watch of President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.