Ghana probes protest march shootings, five dead

Wire Service: RTw (Reuters World Report) Date: Fri, May 12, 1995

Ghana launched an inquiry on Friday into clashes that killed at least five people during a huge anti-government protest.

Many shops in the usually bustling Ghanaian capital, where violence on the scale of Thursday's is rare, remained closed and security forces manned key intersections and buildings.

"With what happened yesterday there is some degree of panic and nobody is sure what will happen again," one trade said. It was still not clear who was responsible for the deaths but Interior Minister Emmanuel Osei-Owusu issued a statement pledging a full-scale inquiry.

"The minister explained that the security forces acted to bring the situation under control and gave the assurance that they will continue to employ measures to maintain law and order," state radio said. Police and doctors said four people died from gunshots wounds and one was stabbed to death on Thursday in clashes in Accra between rival groups -- one backing the government, one denouncing economic hardship and demanding change.

Hospital sources said two wounded people were in a critical condition. Police said they had made a number of arrests during the incidents in the capital, including a man with a pistol.

Ghana, after over a decade of World Bank and International Monetary Fund belt-tightening, has been hit by protests this year from government workers saying they have nothing to show for their sacrifices. Supporters of the Alliance for Change, which rallied an estimated 50,000 marchers, and members of a counter demonstration organised by the pro-government Committees for the Defence of the Revolution, clashed near central Market Square.

Witnesses said shooting broke out during the clashes. Some blamed members of the pro-government protest. Another said police had fired warning shots to disperse rioters and when they came under attack from a gang of youths throwing stones.

Protesters carried placards demanding that President Jerry Rawlings stand down. Slogans included "Rawlings you are a liar -- you have failed the nation."

Organisers said before the march they wanted a peaceful protest. Unions have organised regular protests saying workers need up to 70 percent more pay to make ends meet. The government has offered 25 percent -- a figure rejected by the unions.

The April introduction of Value Added Tax at 17.5 percent has, unions say, made life even more difficult.

A committee of government, employers and unions has been meeting to try to resolve the impasse but the government says it just does not have enough money to pay the increases demanded.

In 1978, police opened fire on stone-throwing students protesting about grants. One student died. Two students were wounded in a similar incident in 1994.