Police Vow To Block Flagstaff House Protest

The police administration has vowed to stop two planned demonstrations in Accra on Tuesday, July 1. The administration says it will use every legitimate means to stop the two groups from taking to the streets, one to register their displeasure against the prevailing hardships in the country and the other, to throw their weight behind the government. According to the Public Relations Officer of the Greater Accra Regional Police, DSP Freeman Tettey, the police would be channelling all its resources, personnel-wise to holiday revellers, thus, it cannot allow the protest to go ahead on July 1. He therefore cautioned that any decision by the two groups to demonstrate without police permit would be an illegality. A group calling itself the Concerned Ghanaians for Responsible Governance, had planned to picket in front of the Flagstaff House in Accra in protest of the worsening economic conditions in the country. The other group known as One Thousand Man March is staging what looks like a counter demonstration in support of the President. DSP Freeman Tettey said in an interview on radio that the police administration has met the two groups to discuss the planned demonstrations and has asked them to reschedule but the discussions were not conclusive. He said the police would not be able to provide security during the planned protests because a lot of police personnel would be made to provide security at the beaches and other places of activities. �We are committing a lot of resources to holiday revellers since criminals strike more during such occasions. There will be a lot of police presence on the streets, at the beaches and other places of activities so we will be constrained and we have made it clear to them,� he said. DSP Freeman Tettey also noted that the planned demonstration in front of the Flagstaff House could not be allowed because it was a security zone. �We are proposing a rescheduling of the date as well as the venue because we have traditional routes and a place of convergence which is Obra spot. Anywhere close to the Flagstaff House is not allowed,� he said. DSP Freeman Tettey therefore, advised the organisers of the planned demonstrations to desist from flouting the police�s directives. �We are in a country of rule of law; we will use every legitimate means to stop them from embarking on this demonstration. It will be termed an illegality. We are advising supporters not to come onto the streets to demonstrate,� he said.