MP Demands Probe Into Police, Students Clash In K’si
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Subin Constituency, Mr. Eugene Boakye Antwi, has requested that a full scale inquest into the circumstance that led to the violent clash between personnel of the Ghana Police Service and students of the Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI) last month.
Some personnel of the Police Service in the Ashanti Region on February 14, clashed with students of the KTI, resulting in the injury of at least 45 students and some personnel of the police service.
Thirty-Seven students of the KTI were also arrested and detained following the clash.
The violence erupted after an inter-school sports competition held at the Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi, forcing the Police to fire gunshots and teargas to disperse the angry students who rebelled against the police’s attempt to calm the situation.
Making a statement on the floor of Parliament yesterday, Mr. Antwi said the police needed to intervene in incidents, but they went too far with their handling of the situation.
“The conduct of the students was reprehensible and needed to be stopped. Notwithstanding, the high-handed approach by the police service is most regrettable and must be condemned.”
“The unreasonable use of teargas, live bullets in controlling the students, who on the appearance of the police had started running for their dear lives, is most unfortunate”, he stated.
Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a former Deputy Education Minister and MP for North Tongu, said there was the need to resort to preventive mechanisms before such clashes deteriorated in the future.
Mr. Ablakwa tasked leadership of students at various schools to regularly engage their members and find out their grievances so as to respond to their grievances.
Representative for Tempane, Mr. Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, urged the Police to adopt a better crowd management method to avoid spillovers in the discharge of their duties
He also urged students to desist from engaging in acts that undermine their studies and use laid down procedure in communicating their grievances.
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