Leader of the Democracy Hub demonstration, Oliver Barker-Vormawor has defended his recent action of removing and running away with car key of police vehicle. An action viewed by many including sympathizers of his course as reckless and unnecessary.
In rather defiant posture, speaking in an interview with TV3 Ghana on October 23, Oliver who is a lawyer stated he did not regret his actions and added he will do it again and again in any given circumstance.
Barker-Vormawor explaining why he removed the key said he feared the police truck could lead to mass injury of his people at the protest ground as the police unexpectedly surrounded them with the vehicle.
Oliver claimed he was surprised to see the key left in place with no driver in the car. “My first instinct was to remove the key and immobilize the truck so it wouldn’t cause any injury” He stated.
Oliver alleged the police falsely accused the protestors of fomenting violence as a pretext to get them arrested.
“There are two videos on loop, the video of me taking the key, not attacking anybody, yes we had imobilised the vehicle, we owned that to our chest, and then when they had individuals lined up pushing back at one person they had those videos on loop consistently, you will not see 54 isolated incidents of people assaulting police. The Police had their own camera people and their action was that let us churn out sensational videos as quickly as possible and get people rounded up but we were setting that cooler heads would eventually prevail and it did prevail.”
Barker-Vormawor was granted bail in the sum of ¢20,000 on Wednesday, October 16, after three unsuccessful attempts.
He was arrested alongside dozens of other protesters at a demonstration against illegal mining, locally known as galamsey.
Galamsey has now caused severe damage to the environment especially nearly all water bodies which are now coffee coloured.
Almost everyone agrees illegal mining is now an existential threat as the government looks on and only pretends to be fighting the menace.
