A private Legal Practitioner, Divine Dotse Tettey has condemned the police response in the Islamic Senior High School demonstration at Abrepo, Kumasi, describing it as ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘tactless’.
The police in response to a demonstration by students in demand for speed ramps in front of their school to forestall frequent accidents, fired tear gas and bullets into the crowd of students.
But the lawyer, in a Citi News interview questioned the professionalism and appropriateness of the police response.
Divine Dotse Tettey opined that the police by their actions at the Abrepo Islamic Senior High School rather endangered the lives of the very students they had the responsibility to protect.
“These are secondary schools children and from what we gather all that they were doing was to protest the frequent road accidents in their immediate environment, which is well within their rights in doing. If the police feel that they posed a threat to life and property, there are so many ways they could go about it without endangering those same lives they seek to protect.
“It is not in every situation that you have to use brute force. The police have to be tactful, especially when dealing with children. You don’t use brute force at the least provocation. It is unconstitutional” he added.
Students of the Islamic Senior High School, Abrepo, Kumasi, took to the streets on Monday [13th June 2022] and blocked sections of the road to demonstrate against frequent road traffic accidents in front of their school.
Some were injured following the disturbances and were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
The police earlier admitted that the way its officers handled the situation was poor and fell short of standard operating procedures on crowd control.
The police administration has already removed its Deputy Ashanti Regional Commander, DCOP Kwasi Akomeah Apraku, and has also interdicted two other senior officers over the incident.
