Structures housing several families described as squatters at the Accra Race Course were this morning demolished under police watch.

The old Race Course near the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium is the site for the construction of a multi-million dollar five-star hotel by Cascade Development Limited.

The developers claim they legally acquired the land from the Government of Ghana, however repeated attempts to eject the squatters, several of whom have lived there for years either as jockeys or stable boys, have proved futile.

Several busloads of armed policemen arrived early morning to cordon off the area, while a section of the squatters claimed the early morning exercise was unexpected and are angry they are being forced to look for ‘new homes’.

Reporting from the scene, Joy news’ Kweku Obeng Adjei said the exercise started about 7:00am with over 200 armed police men on hand to supervise as a bulldozer tore through the structures; mainly concrete frames and wooden fittings.

There was not much resistance beside verbal protestations. The squatters claimed they had been notified to vacate the land, however, they thought a July ending deadline they pleaded for was yet to expire.

Most of them had their belongings in their rooms and those on hand were allowed to salvage what they could. Those who had moved out before the exercise were prevented from going back as the police drove virtually everyone away.

There was no representative of the developers at the site for comment.