Soldiers Shoot Kasoa Residents

One of the injured
Three persons were seriously injured following a clash between some military personnel and residents of Kojo Oku, near Nyanyano, Kasoa, in the Central Region.

The clash stemmed from a demolition exercise being undertaken by soldiers upon instructions from 21^st Century Firm, an estate developing company, to eject some residents who had allegedly encroached on the company's lands.

It is however, not clear if the company was acting on the instructions of a law court.

Earlier reports indicated that one person was killed by a stray bullet while two others got injured as a result of the clash, but police reports indicate that no deaths were recorded.

According to the reports, one person was in a critical condition and receiving treatment at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, while the two others who received minor injuries were treated and discharged.

Narrating the incident to DAILY GUIDE, some residents of the area said the owner of the estate firm led a team of military personnel to demolish some structures at dawn yesterday.

There was a disagreement between the residents and the demolition team, making the soldier fire several rounds of shot in the air thus, hitting  three  of the protesters in the process.

The victim immediately fell on the ground and lost consciousness.

The residents said the personnel who were wielding guns and other implements, had no name tags or ranks on their uniforms.

The military vehicles used in the exercise were also not marked, according to the residents.

'This is not the first time the chief executive officer of 21^st Century  has threatened to demolish our buildings, after living in this area for the past years.

'Last Tuesday, we had information that Millennium City was planning to demolish our buildings and so we decided to even hold a press conference yesterday to protest the exercise when the violence broke out.'

Meanwhile, several police personnel from the Central Region had been deployed to ensure peace and security.

A police personnel at the scene who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the police were not informed about the demolition by the chief executive of the company.

'We had information that there was a clash between residents and some soldiers and were deployed to the scene,' he posited.

([email protected])
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey