Police beat up demonstrators in Bolgatanga, put some behind bars

Personnel of the Special Weapons and Tactics(SWAT) unit of the Ghana Police Service  yesterday pounced on peaceful and unarmed demonstrators in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region and beat them up mercilessly.

Some residents of Tanzui, Zorbisi, Sokabisi,Yikene, and Sherigu had embarked on a peaceful demonstration to demand that work on the Bolga-Sherigu-Naaga road be fixed.

MyNewsGh.com gathered they had the shock of their lives when immediately after presenting a petition to the Public Relations Officer(PRO) of the Regional Coordinating Council(RCC) because neither Regional Minister nor her deputy was present to receive the petition they were surrounded by the police amidst beatings

The police officers then arrested and sent the assembly member of the Tanzui-Zorbisi-Sokabisi electoral area and several others, who have since been detained at Upper East Regional Police Headquarters.

The unfortunate incident, which happened in the morning of yesterday has been blamed directly on the Upper East Regional Minister who the protesters and some residents accuse of having instructed the police to deal with them.

The Tanzui-Bolga-Naaga road has some portions worked on with the remaining much longer stretch left undone. This stretch, the residents, indicate has become a death trap for commuters and every other user of the road.

The residents argue that many appeals on radio and through their representatives that the road be fixed have yielded no results forcing them to embark upon the peaceful demonstration to drum home their demands.

Meanwhile the Regional Minister and the Upper East Police Command are yet to comment on the incident which has received much criticism by residents and others, especially on social media.

Source: MyNewsGh.com/Stephen Zoure