A DEMONSTRATION by angry residents of Saboa, a Zongo community at Offinso in the Ashanti region Tuesday turned bloody when three of the demonstrators were reportedly shot by the police.
The residents, mostly the youth, were protesting against the refusal of the Ghana Highway Authority to construct speed ramps on their portion of the Kumasi-Techiman Highway to control speeding drivers.
According to the drivers, 40 people in the community which lies along the Kumasi-Techiman Highway have been killed by over speeding motorists since the beginning of the year.
They said their appeals to the district assembly for onward transmission to the highway authorities in Kumasi for the construction of speed ramps or strips in the area have fallen on deaf ears.
With the killing of a 10-year-old school girl on Monday by a speeding driver, the irate residents decided to block their portion of the Kumasi-Techiman main road on Tuesday morning.
This development DAILY GUIDE gathered lead to heavy traffic and tempers flared when a military vehicle which sources say was traveling to the Northern region with three soldiers on board reached that portion of the road and demanded the removal of the roadblocks.
The residents were said to have refused to comply with the order so the military officers came out of the vehicle and tried to force the demonstrators to remove the roadblocks.
The officers were said to have called in the Buffalo Unit of the police service in Kumasi to detail men to the scene to restore law and order and enable travelers use the road.
Immediately, a team of police officers arrived at the scene but the demonstrators who were allegedly wielding offensive weapons attacked them.
When the police realized the demonstrators were determined to square it out with them, they reportedly started firing warning shots with the view of dispersing the crowd.
In the process, three of the demonstrators were allegedly shot in the leg, abdomen and the eye respectively. They were rushed to the St Patrick Hospital at Offinso for treatment.
Unconfirmed reports the paper received from the area indicated the demonstrator who was shot in the abdomen with his intestines gushing out, died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
The two other victims are however responding to treatment at the hospital, according to sources.
Attempts to speak to the area’s MCE, Amankwaah Kesse who was at the scene as well as the divisional police commander proved unsuccessful as the two as well as other stakeholders in the municipality were locked up in a marathon meeting over the matter.
Meanwhile, tension is said to have mounted in the area as the residents are allegedly planning to retaliate by attacking the local police station, compelling authorities to detail a team of police officers from Kumasi to guard the station.
Earlier in the morning, the MCE told Kessben Fm he had done all he could but the highway authority maintains it is not advisable for speed ramps to be constructed on that portion of the road.
He however promised that he and his deputy would confer and find an alternative solution to the problem.
