Police fire tear-gas at protesters

Unconfirmed reports say anti-riot police on Monday fired tear-gas into hundreds of protesters who called at the premises of the Supreme Court to back the sole use of photo identity cards for Thursday's general election.

The Court was hearing a writ filed by Phillip Apaloo, a private Citizen, against the Electoral Commission (EC) after the Commission had declared that only photo identity card holders are eligible to vote. Reports said the protestors, who were chanting "No photo, no vote", trooped to the court building as proceedings continued.

It was also alleged that the protestors, believed to be supporters of political parties that favoured the sole use of photo ID cards in the elections, were hurling stones at the police who were deployed there to maintain law and order.

Last Sunday, New Patriotic Party (NPP) leaders asked their supporters at a rally at Indafa Park in Accra to march to the court. This was said amidst shouts of "no photo, no vote".

The NPP has maintained that it would not agree to the use of any other form of identification process during voting apart from the new photo identity cards.

When contacted over the incident, a source at the police headquarters told the GNA that there had been some injuries.

The source could however not confirm whether the injuries were from police tear-gas, gunshot or stones from the protestors themselves.

"What we know is that someone got injured in the process. What I cannot tell is whether the injury was caused by stones or tear-gas," he said.

He said details of the incident were yet to be confirmed by officers on the ground.

Meanwhile, the court is expected to give ruling in the case later in the day at 1800 hours.