African Cup of Nations 2015: Ghana's semi-final win over hosts Equatorial Guinea marred by fan violence as police use tear gas and a helicopter

Ghana beat the hosts 3-0 to reach the final but the match saw violent clashes

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Ghana's win over hosts Equatorial Guinea in the semi-final of the African Cup of Nations was marred by home supporters pelting players, staff and opposing fans with bottles.

The Black Stars won 3-0 to set up a meeting with the Ivory Coast in Bata on Sunday after goals from Jordan Ayew, Wakaso Mubarak and Andre Ayew.

Play was stopped for nearly 40 minutes as the home fans pelted the pitch with bottles and other missiles, including rocks, according to reports. Ghana players had to leave the field under the protection of riot shields while a helicopter hovered above and tear gas was fired into sections of the crowd in an attempt to clear agitated supporters.

The Ghana Football Association described the scene at the Nuevo Estadio de Malabo as a "war zone" on their Twitter page, while centre-back Jonathan Mesah said he and team-mates were "scared".

"It was dangerous for us and the supporters as well, but thank God the situation was controlled," said Mensah after the game.

"We were scared. Seeing our fans getting this kind of treatment wasn't good for us. We were just happy it was controlled.

"We wanted to continue to the game, so that's what we did. [The referee] said we had to wait until the supporters were in the stands before we continued.

"I don't think [the incident took away from our performance]."

Equatorial Guinea manager Esteban Becker congratulated Ghana and said he was "very sad about the way the fans acted."

Captain Emilio Nsue added: "I've never played in front of anything like that and I'd like to say sorry on behalf of my team.

"It was an odd experience - one I've never felt before."