Today, May 9, 2017, marks exactly 16 years after Ghana recorded its worst sports related disaster at the Accra Sports Stadium during a football match between Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak in 2001.
Known as the Black Wednesday, it’s a day supporters and families of both clubs come together to commemorate one of the darkest days in Ghana’s football history.
Over 126 football fans of the two rival clubs, died after fans threw chairs, bottles of water and other missiles to protest some decisions of the referee during the tensed mid-week league match.
Glorious Hearts of Oak scored two late goals to defeat Kotoko 2–1, which resulted in disappointed Kotoko fans ripping off their plastic seats and throwing them onto the pitch.
The police who were at the stadium responded by firing tear gas into the milling crowd in a bid to quell their action and restore order, but that move led to a stampede and death of about 126 persons from asphyxia.
Several others sustained various degrees of injury.
An official inquiry accused the police of over-reacting and reckless conduct arising from indiscriminate firing of plastic bullets and tear gas.
Six police officers were charged with 127 counts of manslaughter afterwards, but the trial court ruled that the prosecution had failed to make a case.
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