Lawyer and former Tamale Central MP, Inusah Fuseini, has criticised the police over the arrest of protesters on Thursday, September 21.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday Inusah Fuseini said the police should not have arrested without a warrant.
“The Public Order Act is a 10-section Act …offences under the Act have been provided. The person who commits the offence under the Act have been provided. The power of the police to arrest without warrant have been provided so in any other offence under the Act, it must be on notice. You must issue a criminal summons, the only time that the police have the power to arrest without warrant has been provided,” he explained.
For this reason, believes that “what the police had done, arresting the people without a warrant was clearly unlawful.”
The police on Thursday arrested 49 people who showed up within the vicinity of the Jubilee House and the 37 Military Hospital to participate in the #OccupyJulorBiHouse demonstration.
In a statement, the police indicated that these suspects were taken into custody for unlawful assembly and violation of the Public Order Act.
The police noted that the arrested persons disregarded court documents served on lawyers of the organisers, Democracy Hub, to refrain from embarking on the planned demonstration.
The protesters arrested by the Police were released on Friday.
Meanwhile, Civil Society Organisation, OccupyGhana, the National Media Commission, Amnesty International, and the University Teachers Association (UTAG), have condemned the arrest of peaceful protesters.
According to OccupyGhana, the arrests were unconstitutional and infringed upon the fundamental human rights of the protesters to freely express themselves and assemble.
“In a democratic society, we firmly uphold the belief that the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental pillar of freedoms of expression and assembly. These rights, enshrined in the Constitution, should be unwaveringly upheld and respected by all state institutions,” it said in a statement.
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