<<Print>>

Early on Wednesday morning, security personnel working at the Kotoka International Airport declared a sit down strike and left some passengers stranded as they locked up the entrance of the terminal to the tarmac, as reported by Peacefmonline.com. The action by the angry aviation security personnel brought operations at the Domestic Flight Terminal to a temporary halt. It was in solidarity with the Commander of the Aviation Security, Ben Henaku, who is in the grips of the National Security for allegedly breaching security procedure during the arrival of President Mills from his trip to the United States of America on Tuesday night. In a typical show of power, National Security (NS) operatives who escorted President Mills off the tarmac on Tuesday, mounted a brutal physical attack on Benard Henaku, a security officer attached to the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). Ben, who was the Commander in Charge of Airport Security on the night of President Mills' arrival, was said to have protested when he was asked to leave the tarmac with the explanation that it was his duty to oversee security at the tarmac. The NS operatives did not take kindly to Henaku's protests and promptly confronted him resulting in an argument that degenerated into a scuffle leaving Ben subdued. In solidarity with their colleague, the Airport security guards reportedly locked up all exit points at the airport, both the arrival and the departure halls thus preventing passengers from boarding planes or exiting the airport on Wednesday. All domestic flights were temporarily suspended, leading to near-chaos at the airport. Clearly riled by the incident, some passengers took the law into their own hands and reportedly vandalized property at the airport, breaking glasses and windows in protest against their being held hostage. The attempt by the police on Wednesday to pick up Bernard Henaku for misconducting himself triggered a free-for-all fight with airport security. Watch below a footage of the melee that ensued between the police and the aviation security officers on Wednesday.