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Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kwesi Ahwoi has expressed disappointment at the lack of respect accorded law enforcement agencies in the country, especially the police service by some members of the public. According to him, the police has virtually lost respect in the eyes of the public as a result of certain inactions by some of their personnel. On Tuesday, June 14, some members of the Ghana National Canoe and Fishermen Council (GNCFC), embarked on what was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration. It however, turned sour when a violent confrontation ensued between the fisher folks and the police who had come to restrain them from barging into the castle. The police sprayed water cannons and also fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protestors in an attempt to disperse members of the GNCFC who vowed to personally present a petition to the President demanding the implementation of the Fisheries Regulations 2010 (L.I. 1968). Speaking in an interview on Radio Gold, the Food and Agriculture Minister said it is about time the citizenry respected the law enforcement agencies, especially the police. �I think the citizens must respect our police; unfortunately in this country, the police have very little respect among citizens, they have lost their authority because of their own actions by some of them who have put the whole police force in that light among the citizens of this country,� he said. �We are all concerned with the way the police handle these things and I am sure they are going to improve upon it but at the same time, citizens must also learn that police are the law enforcement agencies so when they give you the rules, you must obey the rules,� he added. He, however, censured the police for their high-handed approach towards the demonstrating fisher folks, describing as unfortunate and unwarranted, the use of force by the police in restraining the demonstrators. To him though, there are some positives to be taken from the demonstration by the fishermen in that his �ministry can now go all out and give full vent to the implementation of the law�. �The demonstration by the fishermen was encouraging because it equipped me and my ministry as the Minister of Food and Agriculture to now go all out and give full vent to the implementation of the law. It is rather a very unfortunate development that a peaceful demonstration ended up sour the way it did. But it raises a lot of issues that all of us as citizens must concern ourselves with the way the police handle such cases,� he noted.