Adentan burns: Over vehicular knockdowns

The Adentan stretch of the N4 Highway was thrown into chaos yesterday, when angry youth in the area, for the second time in five days, blocked the highway and burnt car tyres in protest against vehicle knock-downs.

That followed the death of a 22-year-old student of the West Africa Senior High School (WASS) who was knocked down and killed on that stretch of the highway, sparking spontaneous protests by some residents of the area.

The student, who was returning from WASS after registering for the Gold Track stream of the double-track system, was knocked down by a private car with a DV number plate, smashing her head and killing her instantly.

The name of the student is yet to be made public by the police and the school authorities, because her family was yet to be informed of her death.

Yesterday’s incident happened a week after a nail technician, identified as Ataa Black Beauty, had been knocked down and killed by two vehicles and two motorcyclists also died in an accident at the SDA Junction on the stretch.

Ataa’s killing caused the blocking of the road for some hours last Friday night, preventing vehicles from using the highway.

Residents protest

Reacting to the latest knockdown, a large number of residents blocked the highway in protest, burnt tyres and pelted vehicles plying the highway with stones and water, making it difficult for vehicles to and from Aburi to use the highway.

The police had a tough time controlling the protestors and at one time had to use tear gas and fire warning shots to disperse the mob.
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Some of the protestors fled, while some irate youth continued the protest, asking for the footbridges on the stretch to be completed to prevent the needless deaths.

Personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) stationed at the Redco Flats near Madina were called in to douse the flames from the tyres lit by protestors which were billowing thick smoke.

Meanwhile, the body of the student has been deposited at the Police Hospital in Accra.

Open to traffic

As of the time of going to press, the Madina-Adentan stretch of the N4 Highway had been opened to traffic after the protest by the residents.

Many residents were also on the sides of the road, hurling insults at the police for what they described as the unnecessary clamp down on the protests.

They also expressed their frustration about the inability of the government and politicians to complete the six footbridges on the highway.

Some policemen had been deployed to strategic places partly because of threats by some of the protestors to block the road again.