Police Service will Hear from Parliament- Ablakwa

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is planning on hauling the police administration before Parliament over the “unprovoked tear gas and pepper spray” attack on protesters of the “Hands Off Our Hotels” demo.

Scores of protesters were reported to have been conveyed to the hospital for treatment after a confrontation with the police while approaching the end of their walking protest against the sale of four state hotels on Tuesday, June 18, 2024.

The lawmaker who spearheaded the event believes the Police Service demonstrated bad faith in their reaction towards the protesters.

According to him, the protesters had been law-abiding throughout and followed the agreed and laid out routes, only for the police to obstruct them.

“The Ghana Police Service demonstrated bad faith. When we met {with the police} on our final meeting on June 12, the decision was that the demonstration would terminate at the Christ the King Parish. That was what we announced to demonstrators when we were taking off.  That was the understanding during our meeting with the police in the morning.

“Only to be taken by surprise, way before we got to the Christ the King Parish, they mounted barricades. They took us by surprise and upon approaching, some of the exuberant police officers decided to spray pepper and tear gas. A number of people collapsed, some were affected,” he recounted on Eyewitness News monitored by opemsuo.com.

He said it took the intervention of the Ghana Ambulance Service which was on hand to provide first aid to the affected and convey them to a medical facility.

Though he confirmed those affected were recuperating, he will follow this up with Parliament.

“This could have been prevented if they had stuck to the agreement. This unprovoked tear gas and pepper spray…They should expect a notice from Parliament to explain why they triggered that and why they didn’t accede to the agreement. It’s a matter we will delve into further.”

He denied allegations that the protesters pelted stones at the officers.

“There were no stones. These are protesters who had comported themselves throughout…Everybody was well-behaved. If they pelted stones where did they get them from?”