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Scores of media personnel who went to a disputed land at the Airport Hills to cover a demonstration by hundreds of youths from La in Accra were yesterday beaten to pulp by soldiers who were heavily armed to the teeth.
The La youths had marched to the Kpeletso lands to protest what they say is the forceful seizure of the land by the military.
However, the demonstrators and media personnel at the site of the demonstration against the alleged encroachment on the La Stool Lands by the Ghana Armed Forces were beaten and chased away.
Particularly for some of the media personnel who were present at the site during the demonstration, they were not only beaten; they were manhandled by some of the uniformed policemen at the site, resulting in injuries to most of them.
As at the time of going to press, about six vehicles some of which private and public transport (trotro) which conveyed the protesters to the disputed lands had their windscreens smashed by the armed soldiers.
The Coalition of La Associations (COLA) which organized the protests had defied orders by the police to suspend the intended demonstration leading to the fracas.
Some of the soldiers at the site dragged a protestor to the ground, subsequently hitting him on the head, while others beat up protestors with sticks.
A uniformed soldier who was captured in a video was heard ordering the media personnel there not to snap any photos on the land which is in contention between Tse Addo and Airport Hills, around the Military Cemetery.
Jeffrey Tetteh, a spokesperson for the group, while addressing the media ahead of the demonstration, said they will not be deterred by the presence of the police in seeking the release of the annexed lands by the military, to them.
Previously, the group had indicated that the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had promised to give the stool about 200 acres of the land while adding that no Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed for it.
Some few weeks ago, the youths numbering about five hundred forcefully took possession of the disputed land and picketed amidst military confrontation.
The disputed land was acquired by government in 1956 and allocated it to the military but the military, according to the La Youth are selling the land to private developers instead of releasing the land back to the owners, thereby triggering six years of agitations by the La youth.
The Secretary who doubles as the Spokesperson of the group added that their continuous agitation precipitated the formation of a tripartite Committee made of the military, the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources and La Traditional Council out of which a decision was arrived that the land be given back to the La people.
“On the 27th November, 2020, the Minister said a decision has been taken for the land to be given back to us”, Mr. Tetteh stressed.
Holding documents to back their claim of legitimate ownership, the Secretary explained that “our chiefs were called to come and sign the MOU but on their way, they were told to hold on because the ministers are on a campaign so they could not sign the document”.