Some residents of Bawku clash with Police

Bawku (U/E) Oct 27, GNA- Tension is mounting in the Bawku township following a confrontation between the police and some residents over the refusal by a section of the public to allow the police to arrest a suspect last Friday.

This comes in the wake of the lifting of the curfew in the township less than two months ago by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Hackman Owusu Agyemang.

In the course of the confrontation some residents set ablaze old car tires and threw refuse onto some principal streets to obstruct a joint police and military team deployed to control the situation. A police source told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Bawku that two policemen who were detailed, to summon a suspect to the police station were obstructed by some residents to perform their duties. The source said while the police and the residents were engaged in an argument, the suspect bolted but was, unfortunately, hit by an on-coming articulator truck.

The source added that, the group thinking that the suspect had been killed then attacked the driver and his mate, but another group also emerged to protect the driver and his mate and this resulted in a clash.

The two policemen present intervened to prevent any clash between the two groups, but due to their numerical strenghth, they could not effectively control the groups.

They called for re-enforcement, but the team came only to find out that most members of the two antagonizing groups had sustained injuries. No arrests have so far been made, and all the injured persons are responding to treatment at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital under police surveillance.

In a related development, the timely intervention of some final year students of Bawku Secondary School (BAWSCO) averted the explosion of the school's power generator.

According to staff of the school, at about 1100 hours last Friday, some students who were studying at the dining hall, smelt something suspected to be petrol.

The staff said the students went out only to see that a cotton string had been soaked in petrol and tied to the generator behind the hall, with an extension into a near-by bush 20 meters away.

The staff added that this made them to call the school authorities in and when an inspection was made, it was found that a bowl containing petrol and match was in the bush.

So far, no arrest has been made, but military presence has been intensified on the school campus.

When the GNA wanted clarification from the school, the headmaster was said to have travelled out of town.

Some of the school authorities who spoke to the GNA, however, said there had not been any problem between the school authorities and the student body.

The only problem in the school, they said was the dismissal of some students for poor academic performance last September when schools re-opened.