Ghanaians blast police service for injunction to stop ‘Occupy Julorbi House Demo’

Ghanaians have been criticizing the police service for heading to the court to stop a protest being organized by a group calling itself Democracy Hub, dubbed “Occupy Julorbi House Demo”.

In social media reactions to the police’s statement disclosing the court injunction, some Ghanaians say they were not surprised, suggesting that the government might be using the police to frustrate the citizenry from expressing themselves.

“The Police have filed an application at the court and successfully served the organisers of a group identifying itself as Democracy Hub in connection with a planned demonstration within the vicinity of the Jubilee House from Thursday, 21st to Saturday, 23rd September 2023,” the police said in the statement signed by Superintendent Juliana Obeng of the Public Affairs Unit, just hours to the D-day.

It went on further to urge the public to ignore calls on them to assemble for the said protest. The police again, cautioned the organisers of the now-injuncted demonstration to be law abiding and respect the court order which has been duly served on them.

“As we wait for the court to determine the matter, we wish to urge the public to take note and disregard any calls from any individuals or groups encouraging them to assemble for a demonstration at the Jubilee House.

“We equally wish to urge the organisers to respect the due process in the interest of public order and public safety.”

Below are some reactions on X to the court injunction:

The widely-publicised 3-day protest was expected to take place at the precinct of the seat of government, the Jubilee House from Thursday, September 21, 2023, to Saturday, September 23.

According to the organisers, staging the protest on the country’s founder, Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, which has been declared a holiday would add significance to the event and the message they wanted to send across to the government.

They argue that corruption and economic hardship among other situations in the country have worsened under the current Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party government, hence the decision to protest.

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