Yesterday on June 27, the Accra High Court paved way for Arise Demo which was intended to take place on June 28 in Accra. Justice Comfort Tasiame ordered that the demonstration should take place from 8am to 4pm on June 28 and 29, 2022. The initial plans according to the demo’s organizers was that demonstration would take place from 3pm to 10pm. The organizers also intended the demonstrators to converge at the Jubilee House, which is the presidential place in Ghana. The court however changed this plan by ordering that demonstrators should meet at Obra Spot, near Kwame Nkurumah Interchange and Independence Square.
The above court orders were made after the Deputy Superintendent of the Ghana Police Service (DSP), Slyvester Asare appeared before Justice Tasiame arguing that police would want the demonstration to end at 3pm. Mr. Asare compared the intended demonstration to the terrorism happening in the neighboring country, Togo. According to Asare, if the demonstration take place past 3pm it may cause insecurity in the city especially at night.
The police filed a motion in court after unsuccessfully having several meetings with the Arise Demo organizers. The police made it clear they were not against the demonstration. Their main concern was the security of the demonstrators and the entire country. The demonstration kicked off in the morning of June 28, and expected to continue tomorrow. Among the issues addressed in the demonstration include rising inflation, fuel hikes, high cost of living, depreciating cedi, economic crisis, insecurity, and many others.
