Police releases 13 law students arrested for ‘demonstrating illegally’

The Accra Regional Police Command has released 13 persons who were arrested on Monday, October 7, 2019, for participating in the Ghana Law School demonstration. 

The Police say the group embarked on an 'illegal demonstration'. The demonstration dubbed '#OpenUpLegalEducation' was against the recent mass failure at the Ghana Law School entrance exams.

“At about 0830hours, a group numbering about 300 believed to be members of a group of students who failed the entrance exams to the Ghana Law School besieged the entrance to the law school, sat down in the middle of the road and thus preventing a free flow of traffic,” a news release issued by Police Public Affairs Directorate said.

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It said the demonstrators later continued to the Attorney General's Department, where they prevented Mr. Godfred Dame, a Deputy Minister of Justice, from exiting the premises.

The group later re-assembled close to the new court complex in Accra and picketed there for some time and went ahead to an office close to the Ghana Institute of Journalism, where they presented a copy of their petition to the Bar Association.

The release said they then headed towards Jubilee House and on reaching the King Tackie Tawiah Overpass, they sat in the middle of the road and pelted the Police with stones and offensive weapons, adding that in the process, police sprayed cold water and fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

Police has therefore advised the citizenry that though they had the right to demonstrate, they must do so in accordance with the law.

That required potential demonstrators to furnish the Police with a notice at least five days to the planned date (which was not observed in this instance), it noted.

It stated that demonstrators should also co-operate with the police on route management and the conduct of demonstrations in order not to inconvenience other members of the public, saying that in the absence of these, police may be required to restore order by means of reasonable lawful force.

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Police remains committed to assisting the public to enjoy their rights within the confines of the laws of Ghana, the statement said.