The police clashed with Arise Ghana demonstrators on Tuesday, leaving 12 officers injured at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.
George Dosoo-Doyen, a security threat analyst, wants security agencies, particularly the police to review their training manuals in line with modern-day policing.
The police clashed with Arise Ghana demonstrators on Tuesday, leaving 12 officers injured at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra. Some of the protesters pelted the police with stones and various other objects as security officers fired tear gas in the melee.
“It is clear that the training of our security personnel needs reviewing,” Dosoo-Doyen said on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday (30 June). “Just being trained for defense, security and arrests are not good enough… not anymore.”
“The few police officers who have been trained in crowd control are often highly ranked and are rarely on the front lines,” he told the host Kwaku Nhyira-Addo.
“Anytime there is a disagreement between the police and demonstrators … you see them defending themselves, properties and civilians around them.”
NDC’s Joshua Akamba spotted with a weapon
Joshua Akamba, the national organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) was on Thursday (29 June) spotted with a weapon at El-Wak on the second day of the Arise Ghana demonstration.
“The police have spotted a demonstrator, Joshua Akamba with a weapon among the crowd of demonstrators gathered around the El-Wak Stadium, today 29 June 2022.”
“He was duly advised by the police to put the weapon away after his attention was drawn to the illegality associated with such an act. He was also urged to notify other demonstrators to desist from carrying offensive weapons during the demonstration,” the police said in a Facebook post.
At least 29 demonstrators were arrested on Tuesday (June 28) after clashing with the police in Accra, an official statement said.
Under the sponsorship of Arise Ghana, the demonstration turned violent when protesters pelted the police with stones and various other objects following a standoff over the route to take.
The police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd that was protesting over soaring living costs in Ghana.
“The police have arrested 29 demonstrators for their participation in violent attacks on the police and some members of the public including school children during the Arise Ghana demonstration in Accra,” the police spokesperson, chief superintendent Grace Ansah-Akrofi, said in a statement.
“Available video footage of the event is being reviewed and all other persons identified for taking part in the attacks as well as inciting the violence will be arrested and brought to face justice.
“Also, the organizers of the demonstration will be arrested and put before court for the attacks and damage to public property,” the statement added.
“We would like to assure the public that we remain committed and professionally measured in the discharge of our constitutional mandate of enforcing law and order in the country,” it said.
Source: Asaase Radio 99.5
