Our handling of Islamic SHS incident poor – Police admits
The Ghana Police Service (GPS) has admitted that the method it adopted to control protesting students of Kumasi Islamic SHS was wrong, adding that a more calculated tactic could have been used to address the situation.
According to the police, “even though nobody was hit by a bullet, the Police handling of the incident was poor and fell short of our standard operating procedure on crowd control.”
On Monday, some students of the Islamic Senior High School in Kumasi thronged the Abrepo Junction-Barekese road to protest frequent crashes of pedestrians, including their colleagues and teachers of the school.
The angry students massed up on the road in protest, as they called for the construction of speed ramps on that section of the road.
Reports indicate there was vehicular and human traffic on that stretch for more than an hour before the Police were called in to clear the road.
Subsequently, some Police personnel were deployed to the School to maintain law and order.
In an amateur video, officers were seen behind shields and charging at the students amidst firing tear gas.
Some 25 students were reportedly rushed to the hospital following the clash.
In view of this, some top police officers in the jurisdiction have been interdicted including the Deputy Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kwasi Akomeah-Apraku.
“The Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) has commenced a full-scale investigation into the conduct of the officers who were responsible for the Police response,” the Service noted in a statement.
According to GPS, psychologists have also been deployed to visit the school to offer psychosocial support to the student body.
“The situation at the school is under control and calm has since been restored,” it noted.
Source: Ghana News
