Soldiers beat up media personnel, protesters during La lands demonstration

Demonstrators and media personnel at the site of a demonstration against the alleged encroachment on a La Stool Lands by the Ghana Armed Forces have been beaten and chased away.

Particularly for some of the media personnel who were present at the site during the demonstration, they were not only beaten; they were manhandled by some of the uniformed policemen at the site, reports citinewsroom.com.

The report added that the group within the La Traditional Council, the Coalition of La Associations, defied orders of the police to suspend their intended demonstration today, leading to the fracas.

Accounts from the disturbances say that some of the soldiers at the site dragged a protestor to the ground, subsequently hitting him on the head, while others beat up protestors with sticks.

A uniformed soldier who was captured in a video was heard ordering the media personnel there not to snap any photos on the land which is in contention between Tse Addo and Airport Hills, around the Military Cemetery.

Jeffrey Tetteh, a spokesperson for the group, while addressing the media ahead of the demonstration, said they will not be deterred by the presence of the police in seeking the release of the annexed lands by the military, to them.

Previously, the group had indicated that the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had promised to give the stool about 200 acres of the land while adding that no Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed for it.