Lawyers representing the Democracy Hub protestors say they are still struggling to locate all 46 protesters arrested by the Ghana Police Service during the three-day #ReoccupyJulorbiHouse and #StopGalamsey demonstrations.

Among the arrested was the convener of the #FixTheCountry protest, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, who was detained along with others for alleged unlawful activities during the demonstrations.

According to a member of the Protest Defense, Prince Ganaku, they are yet to be fully informed about the whereabouts of all the protesters, stating that the police appear to be scheming to detain the protesters for an extended period.

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Mr Ganaku explained that the lawyers had requested information from the police about which court the Democracy Hub detainees would be taken to so they could prepare a defense. However, the police have failed to provide any information.

He accused the police of intentionally violating the human rights of the protesters, suggesting that they are being punished for demonstrating against illegal mining (galamsey) in the country.

“In the hours after they said that they arrested 42, we saw on the internet that another four had been arrested so we can estimate that about 46. Now of that 46, we know the locations of a grand total of about anywhere between 13 to 15. 

“We will have people monitoring the various police stations so when we see where they are going then we can hardly go and mount a defense and an application for bail for them because everything that the police is doing is as though they intend to keep them there by a rough factor,” he said.

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Mr Ganaku said that the Deputy Regional Commander of Police in Accra had informally told them that if they [the lawyers] were searching for the detained protesters, they should "roam the whole of Accra." If they found them, fine, and if not, that was also fine.

“As a matter of fact, we sent some of our lawyers to go around the various police stations and when you go you can clearly see the protesters there and they tell you there's nobody there or in the best-case scenario where they are being very charitable, they will tell you that there's an order from above but they shouldn't you the council access the person who has been arrested and detained,” he added.