Police urged to respect rights of NDC protesters

The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) and the Civil Forum Initiative (CFI) has called on the Ghana Police Service to respect the rights of members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to protest.

The civil society organisations also urged sympathisers of the NDC to seek police protection for their demonstrations.

At a news conference in Accra, the Executive Director of the Ark Foundation, Dr. Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, appealed to opponents of the NDC to keep away from the NDC’s demonstrations.

While the governance platform acknowledged that the peaceful demonstration and legal actions are not mutually exclusive, it encouraged the NDC to ensure members are protected by the police during their protests.

“A key development has been the National Democratic Congress’s contestation of the elections. Members of the public, CSO’s and other concern citizens have called on the NDC to take their concerns to court”, she said.

“It is the political and civil right of all persons to demonstrate when they disapprove of some national development. Members of a political party, therefore, have a right to public protest and demonstration, they have a right to express themselves through demonstrations so long as their demonstrations are peaceful”, she added.

The groups appealed to the party to seek legal redress, which is they believe is the only way to get their challenges addressed.