<<Print>>

Convenor of the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA), David Asante says the brutality from the Ghana Police Service to disrupt the peaceful demonstration in their demand for a new voters� register before the 2016 elections is penchant to destroy the nurturing democracy in the country. A planned peaceful demonstration turned violent after some of the protesters defied Police order and attempted to move to the premises of the Electoral Commission (EC) to present their petition. Members of the LMVCA and its allied civic groups and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) were tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets after having veered off from the approved route to picket at the Electoral Commission. Dozens got injured and arrested in the scuffle including leading NPP member Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko as he sustain severe and several beatings. Speaking on Okay Fm�s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, David Asante said the brutality of the police sends a dangerous signal that Ghana is sitting on timed-bomb in its pursuit in democracy. �What happened yesterday, I was very sad and if you are a believer of democracy and have the interest of the country at heart, this should send a dangerous signal to you that we are sitting on timed-bomb as far as the security and the management of the protesters on the street of Ghana is concern�, he bemoaned. He however could not fathom what the prompted such action from the police to disperse unarmed protesters as the police turn guns at innocent demonstrators and crack open heads of passersby with stick. �No protester had even pure water on them; now we know the police can turn guns at innocent demonstrators and cracked open the heads people are passing by; tear gas people and splash hot water on people- innocent Ghanaians demonstrating on the street to demand new voters� register�, he narrated. �This is how the security service of this nation especially the Police force is using brutish approach to disperse crowd�, he added. He therefore appealed to the various religious bodies to react to the brutality of the police in this manner before it gets out of hands; insisting that the time to demand for a new voters� register has begun.