Members of the Coalition of Concerned Youth of Tamale addressing the media
A demonstration by a pro-National Democratic Congress (NDC) group, Coalition of Concerned Youth of Tamale, was disrupted Monday morning by a rival group believed to be supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NPP).
The demonstration was against a vigilante group – The Kandahar Boys -over the rampant seizure of state agencies and failure of the police to stop the attacks.
The Kandahar Boys have reportedly attacked many state agencies in the region, including the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), assaulting public servants and asking them to vacate their posts to make way for their members because there was a change of government.
The group notified the police and was given permission to demonstrate on Monday.
However, while demonstrators were gathering at the Tamale Jubilee Park, the angry rival group stormed the premises with weapons and physically assaulted the protesters.
They were forced to remove their red shirts and banners and chased away.
Leader of the Coalition of Concerned Youth of Tamale, Mahama Zakaria, told DAILY GUIDE that the incident that happened at the Jubilee Park was a dent on democracy as well as their freedom to demonstrate as citizens of the country.
According to him, the group had met all the requirements and written to the police as required by the Public Order Act, to have a peaceful demonstration.
He alleged that the NPP group stormed the venue with guns, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons.
Mahama Zakaria accused the police of putting the demonstrators’ lives in danger because they were supposed to protect them but moved from the scene a few minutes after the NPP group had clashed with them.
The leader of the NPP group, Abdul Hack, told DAILY GUIDE that the NDC demonstrators intended to dent the reputation of the ruling government and that was the reason why they stopped the demonstration.
The Kandahar Boys yesterday besieged the police headquarters, asking the police to stop the scheduled demonstration or they would visit mayhem on the demonstrators.
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale
(kombat.eric@yahoo.com)