Organized lawlessness do not make protests popular

It is pathetic that the demonstration organized yesterday by pressure group Arise Ghana, to protest against economic hardships in the country did not go as planned and ended in a bloody clash between demonstrators and police personnel.

There was no need to go lawless and against the Public Order Act to tell Ghanaians that the economy has gone from bad to worse .

Times are really hard and every Ghanaian can feel it. Getting lawless and vandalizing vehicles of the police is not what would make the agenda of the opposition a popular one.

It is something that should be condemned by every law abiding citizen.

Perhaps it was a deliberate provocation intended to spark some agitation.

Live radio reports monitored from several stations indicated that the misunderstanding was over which route to use for the demonstration and the fact the demonstrators attacked the police by pelting them with stones, bottles and other offensive weapons.

The live reports described how the demonstrators burnt tires in the middle of the road and engaged in other conducts that are not permitted by law.

In fact there were photos of injured police personnel as well as some of their vehicles vandalized.

Tear gas was fired to dismiss the rioting crowd and the burning tires quenched.
It was a completely unnecessary and avoidable spectacle. It was needless and did not in any way add to amplifying the intended message the demonstrators wanted to send across.

How would the demonstrators justify and defend the violent attacks on uniformed police personnel on official duty? How would they attempt to justify the vandalism that went on?

Prior to the demonstration, both the police and organizers of the demonstration had agreed in court on what the route should be.

The Court had directed that the demonstrators were to take off from the Obra Spot section of the Kwame Nkrumah Circle by 8 AM and walk through Adabraka , Farisco through TUC and by 4 PM, they end the protest at the Independence Square.

The Court had also ordered that the organizers of the demonstration ware to ensure strict compliance with the Public Order Act.

This arrangement was not what happened yesterday and it should be clear to any honest and well meaning Ghanaian that there was no way that as at 3:PM, the demonstrators should still be at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

The organizers of the protest had resolved to occupy the precincts of the Kwame Nkrumah Circle fountain and wanted to march towards the Ako Adjei Interchange, completely different from what was agreed in court.

The clash happened after 3:PM and the question should be what the demonstrators were still doing at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle by that time when the agreement was that they were to have left the area by 8:AM.