Several innocent bystanders sustained different degrees of injuries, including gunshots wounds, suffocation from tear gas and shock, when the police fired indiscriminately to disperse a durbar by the chief and people of Nungua to mark the end of the Homowo festival. For more than two hours, the Nungua Township seemed like a ghost town as most of the men folk went into hiding to escape the brutalities of the police, who said they were acting on "orders from above." Investigations carried out revealed that the injured were left to their own fate whilst the police went on the rampage. One could easily have mistaken the Buade taxi rank and its surroundings as a battle ground, as several people interviewed showed bullet holes in their properties, including through buildings, sound equipment and vehicles. Immediately following the incident, some police personnel denied that they were shooting at people. They claimed they only fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse the people, who they held were throwing stones at them. Bismarck Arthur, 21 and a fan milk seller, was hit on the shoulder and leg by a stray bullet as he sat at a friend's refrigerating workshop, several kilometers from the durbar ground. He was rushed to the Sakumono Community Hospital where he was operated upon and is currently convalescing. Taxi driver Odai Okley popularly known as Odai Tinko, was another victim of the rioting. He was shot in the thigh within the Buade taxi rank. Mr Okley was left lying in a pool of blood until a good samaritan, Kwabena Agyemang, took him to the 37 Military Hospital after they had been turned away at the Police Hospital as a result of a power outage. Nungua for decades has been entangled in fierce chieftaincy disputes that have seen intervention from different governments. Currently two people, Odai Ayiku IV and Odaifio Welentsi III, are claiming rights to the Nungua throne. The rioting started Saturday when the police stopped Nii Odai Ayiku from celebrating the annual Kpledzoo, a ceremony that is held to mark the end of the Homowo festival in Nungua. According to the police, the Odaifio Welentsi III faction has obtained judgment from a Tema Court putting an injunction on the durbar. This paper gathered that upon further questioning by the elders, the officer in charge, ASP Adzevi from the police headquarters, claimed that they were acting upon directives from Sheik I C Quaye, the Greater Accra Regional Minister. Nii Odai Ayiku, denied any knowledge of a court order barring him from holding the function. He expressed surprise at the police action, and wondered, "why should [the police] instill fear in the people." In a sharp contrast to the police claim, the chief presented a court judgment given on July 27 ordering Odaifio Welentsi III "whether by themselves, their servants, assigns, agents and privies or any other person or persons acting through or by them be restrained from interfering with the celebration of the Nunma Durbar at Nungua." The court order further reads, "The applicant may seek police protection prior to and during the celebration of the festival." Before that, the court dismissed a court action taken by Odaifio Welentsi III on July 26, 2006. In that judgment, the judge, Irismay Brown, stated among others that [the police] is best equipped to cope with the various contentions of the parties, and consequently dismissed the appeal as inappropriate. Nii Odai Ayiku said armed with the court's most recent ruling, they set out to hold the durbar this year, only to be stopped by the police with gunshots. Some eyewitnesses confirmed that the police started shooting as soon as they saw the chief approaching the durbar grounds in his palanquin. "We have neither been served with any court order nor were we warned by the police in advanced," the chief said, adding, "I was embarrassed by the action of the police." Source: The Statesman