Students injured following clash with police

Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) - Two students of the Sunyani Polytechnic were on Sunday admitted to the Sunyani Government Hospital, one with bullet wounds and the other hit with a truncheon following a battle with helmet-wearing armed policemen deployed to dismantle a roadblock mounted by the students on the main Sunyani-Kumasi road.

Opoku Adjei King, 22, a final year student in Furniture Craft was hit by a stray bullet while Sarfo Eric, was allegedly hit with a truncheon.

The students' action followed the death of Mark Yaw Mensah, a 23-year-old final year student in Electrical Engineering of the Polytechnic after allegedly being knocked down by a vehicle on Saturday night at a roundabout near the College of Renewable Natural Resources.

The late Mensah, a boarding student, was said to be returning to campus with colleagues from a dinner at Marriot Hotel as part of the National Week celebration of the Polytechnic Electrical Students' Association of Ghana (PESAG) when the incident occurred.

His body has been deposited at the Sunyani Government Hospital Mortuary. For more than four hours traffic on the road came to a halt as no vehicle could cross to the other side.

A police source told newsmen that before the arrival of the police at the scene the students were alleged to have smashed the windscreen of an Isuzu vehicle with registration number GT 4829 S while a driver of a Toyota taxi-cab with registration number BA 831 Q heading from Abesim to Sunyani was assaulted by the irate students.

Meanwhile, 23 students made up of 15 males and eight females have been arrested by the police and are helping in investigations.