The Ghana Police Service has admitted that a better approach to tackling the riot at Kumasi Islamic Senior High School in could have been employed.
According to the service, a more calculated tactic could have led to a much salient resolution to the chaos and not the development that has been seen in the Ashanti Region on Monday.
On the back of this, some top police officers in the jurisdiction have been interdicted including the Deputy Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kwasi Akomeah-Apraku who has been removed.
He was acting as the Ashanti Regional Police Commander at the time of the chaos.
Two other police officers were being interdicted to allow for investigations to take place.
About 25 students were hospitalised after Police allegedly opened tear gas on them while they were protesting frequent crashes of pedestrians in front of the school.
The victims were said to be part of a group of students who blocked the Abrepo Junction-Barekese road during the protest.
The angry students had massed up on the road in protest, as they called for the construction of speed ramps on that section of the road.
Regional Director of the National Ambulance Service, Sommit Duut, said all the victims were responding to treatment.
He, however, stressed that they did not treat any traumatic injury like that of gunshot wounds. According to him, the students instead suffered respiratory distress.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare subsequently paid a visit to the school to get first-hand details of the incident.
The visit was part of investigations being conducted by the Police administration.
Dr. George Akuffo Dampare after his visit, assured students and Management of the school that he will look into the conduct of Police officers deployed for crowd control during their protest.
While addressing the students, the IGP said investigations will be conducted into the matter to ensure the necessary action is taken.
Tonight, the preliminary report has been released. The statement signed by Police Director of Public Affairs, Grace Ansah-Akrofi explained that “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.”
Aside from the Deputy Regional Commander’s removal, the two other officers who were interdicted to make way for a thorough investigation comprise the Regional Operations Officer, ACP George Ankccnah and Suame Divisional Police Commander, ACP Alex Cudjoe Acquah.
Additionally, the press release intimated that the issue has been taken up by the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) as they have commenced a full-scale investigation into the conduct of the officers who were responsible for the Police response.
Clinical psychologists have also, per the statement been deployed to offer assistance to the student body.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has also launched a separate investigation into Monday’s chaos.
Source: myjoyonline.com