Police statement sparks outrage in Bridget Otoo

The Ghana Police Service's denial of any physical assault or manhandling of #OccupyJulorbiHouse protesters on Thursday has prompted broadcaster Bridget Otoo to announce her intention to file a police report in response.

The statement, issued on September 22, 2023, and signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Grace Ansah-Akrofi, Director of Public Affairs, maintained that “there is no evidence or reported case of assault against the demonstrators according to police records. Therefore, anyone with evidence to the contrary should provide it for investigation.”

In response, Bridget Otoo who was a victim described the statement as insulting.

“I was going to let this go but this is insulting and so I will file a police report,” she said in a tweet.

On Day 1 (September 21) of the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protests by the Democracy Hub, a group of young activists, police illegally rounded up hundreds of protesters who were marching to demand action on prevailing economic crisis and corruption.

The illegal arrests, especially how they were conducted by the police, triggered harsh criticism of impeding the constitutional right to protest and deploying highhandedness on the part of police.

Police sent the detainees to the regional headquarters before splitting them up into about eight police stations dotted across the capital, even as colleague protesters and lawyers worked to secure bail for the illegally detained persons.

In this process, other journalists and protesters who massed up, especially at the Accra Regional Command, encountered some amounts of police violence, including shoving, forced detention, seizure of phone and in the case of others, physical assault.

“I was holding a guy’s phone, he was live on Twitter, now X and I was talking in the space because a question was asked on what was happening on the demonstration grounds,” said Bridget Otoo as she recounted her ordeal in an interview with GhanaWeb.

She further lamented that “While I was talking and holding his phone, the police charged at us for doing absolutely nothing, attacking him. He ripped my bag and they pulled my dress and now I have a ripped dress.”



BB