The ongoing Di Mi Ya demonstration by the coalition of opposition parties in Tamale almost plunged into chaos when NDC allied forces and vigilante group Azorka Boys clashed with the demonstrators at a point during the protest.
“The demonstrators have been on the streets since morning. But we don’t know where the Azorka Boys came from, all we saw was that they had entered the crowd and the confrontation began but the police were at the Traffic Light Junction so they stopped them,” a local reporter with Diamond FM said.
The Coalition of Opposition Political Parties, made up of the NPP, the People’s National Convention (PNC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP), and the National Democratic Party (NDP), are today, 22 August, embarking on a demonstration at a time President John Dramani Mahama is starting his campaign in the region ahead of this year’s presidential elections.
An earlier planned was scheduled for the President to touch down today in the Northern regional capital, Tamale, but latest communication from his handlers and the campaign team has indicated his first stop will rather be in the Salaga south district where he will pay a courtesy call on the newly enskinned Kpembewura.
The President wouldn’t have had the serenity to campaign in Tamale as his presence would have been overshadowed by a major protest by the coalition of opposition parties in the region who have resisted attempts by the Northern Regional police command to shelve their demonstration and are vigorously protesting today.
Interacting with Fiifi Banson on Mahama’s tour of the Northern region on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM, the Northern regional Secretary of the NDC, Halidu Rauf said the President won’t be on the grounds to campaign amidst the noise making activities from the NPP and its cohorts set to destabilize the metropolis for President Mahama’s campaign.
The Northern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ken Yeboah who earlier wanted to block the demonstration for some reasons said although the president was going to be in the region at the time of the demonstration, he would not be in the area where the demonstration would be held, thus, the decision to allow for the demonstration on Monday.
