DEMO AGAINST FLANI HERDSMEN TURNS VIOLENT (PAGE 19, MAY 3, 2010)

A PEACEFUL demonstration against the activities of Fulani herdsmen in the Asante Akim North District of the Ashanti Region turned violent when the police opened fire on the demonstrators, injuring five of them.
Some of the policemen also sustained wounds from the stone-throwing demonstrators.
The demonstration, according to a source, was also against the Paramount Chief of the Agogo traditional Area, Nana Akuoko Sarpong, and his sub-chiefs, for allegedly allowing the Fulani herdsmen to settle at Agogo and its environs, resulting in their cattle destroying farm products with impunity.
The herdsmen were also accused of rape and the destruction of food and cash crops in the district.
Among the injured was one Opanin Kwadwo Asare, 60, who was hit on the arm and was treated and discharged, as well as four others who sustained serious injuries and now on admission at the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital .
The four were identified as Kwame Atta, who was hit in the thigh; Kwadwo Amoako, who was hit in the chest; Nana Kyei, who was also hit in the chest; and Atta, who had a bullet penetrating the shoulder.
One of the demonstrators told the Daily Graphic that the paramount chief of Agogo and his sub-chiefs had leased out over 1,000 acres to the herdsmen, denying the community and future generation of access to farmlands to cultivate food and cash crops.
He also accused the herdsmen of rape and murder.
The turning point in the demonstration was when the police arrested one Gyidi Sofo, a taxi driver, for allegedly heckling the Agogo Gyaasehene, Nana Agyei Frimpong.
Nana Frimpong was said to be in front of his house when Gyidi Sofo held him and accused him of condoning and conniving with other chiefs and the Registrar, Mr Joseph Nti, alias Akuse, to lease out land to foreigners at the expense of the citizenry who needed them for the cultivation of food and cash crops to make a living.
Following the arrest of Gyidi Sofo, the demonstrators converged on the police station to demand his immediate release, to which the police responded by firing warning shots, as the demonstrators hurled stones at them.
In the commotion, some of the policemen received head and body injuries while some of the demonstrators sustained gunshot wounds.