Member of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) National Communication Team, Saka Salia has said that members of the #FixTheCountry movement deserved the treatment they received from the police in their attempt to get to the Accra High Court today.
The police, today, clashed with the group protestors at the premises of the Accra High Court as the protestors alleged that the police was deliberately preventing them from entering the court premises.
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Some footage from the scene showed a number of police personnel smashing the phones of some of the protestors while there seemed to be chaos.
But, Saka Salia, reacting to this development was in defense of the police’s actions as he told Don Prah in a panel discussion on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show: “The court has a certain number of people it can admit. And at least this group was informed of the number to represent them. If you are genuine, one person can represent you. But they wanted the whole world to know that the police was beating them. But if you deserve to be beaten, you have to be beaten”.
Conveners of the #FixTheCountry protests were scheduled to appear before the court after the police secured an ex parte injunction against a massive demonstration slated for May 9.
The group is making their case as to why the court must allow for the protest to take place despite the reasons advanced by the police, per the May 6 court order.
Ahead of the court hearing, the group in a statement called on sympathizers to embark on a march to the Criminal Division of the High Court as a sign of solidarity.
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However, the anticipated peaceful march became so chaotic that the judge presiding over the matter had to put the case on hold to allow the lawyers of the agitating youth to intervene.
The State Attorneys in an interview with an Accra-based radio station said the protestors showed up in a threatening manner causing the police to intervene.
