Residents of Asesensu, a farming community in the Wassa Amenfi East District of the Western region have been forced to hold a vigil for fear of being attacked by military officers stationed in the Upper Wassa Forest.
One person sustained gunshot wounds on Wednesday after military officers fired several warning shots and arrested eight others.
It followed a confrontation between sections of the youth who demanded a Chinese miner transporting excavator pay a token before he is allowed to use a bridge in the town.
Anger flared up when section of the youth demanded a Chinese miner transporting excavator, pay a token before he is allowed to use a bridge in the town.
It was to support maintenance of the bridge constructed through communal labour.
The demand by the youth who had mounted a barrier angered the mine workers who fired several shots to disperse them.
A pump action gun in their possession was seized and handed over to elders of the community in the ensuing confrontation.
The military, however arrived some minutes later after being called in allegedly by the Chinese miner and fired several warning shots, one of them hitting the ankle of 32-year old Yaw Nkrumah.
But residents say the situation is making their lives unbearable, causing many of them to abandon their homes to seek refuge elsewhere.
Meanwhile other residents have expressed concern about the slow response of the police whenever these attacks are reported.
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