Monday, November 3, 2008

5 REMANDED FOR POLITICAL ASSAULT (PAGE 14)

FIVE persons alleged to have been involved in an assault case at Yendi following a misunderstanding between supporters of an independent candidate and a New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate in the area, have been remanded in prison custody by the Yendi Circuit Court.
The suspects who include four campaign executive of the independent candidate, were expected to reappear in court scheduled for yesterday.
The Yendi Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Patrick Adusei Sarpong, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in a telephone chat, said the incident occurred last weekend, when both parliamentary candidates organised rallies in the area.
According to him, after both rallies had closed, an argument ensued between supporters of the two candidates who were coming from opposite directions.
This led to a misunderstanding and two persons were attacked in the process. He asserted that the police did not receive notification from the organisers of the rally for the independent candidate but that the NPP candidate notified the police they would hold a rally that weekend in consonance with the Public Order Act.
“There has never been an occasion when we refused to grant permit to independent candidates to hold rallies; we encourage them to just inform us and we would grant them the permit to go ahead with their rallies”, Mr Sarpong added.
The commander explained that anytime the situation became critical due to possible clash of rallies, the police met with the parties involved and a new date would be fixed in order to promote peace in the area.
“Yendi is a small town and we do not want to encourage parties to hold rallies on the same day, to avert any possible disturbances”, Mr Sarpong stressed.

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