The Ghana Police Service has admitted it erred in controlling students of the Islamic Senior High School who were protesting frequent knockdowns in front of the school.
It has also been confirmed from their initial investigations that pepper spray was sprayed and warning shots were fired to disperse the protesting students.
In an update of the situation at the school following a visit by the IGP, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, it said that even though none of the students were inflicted by live bullets, the overall handling of the situation was contrary to their standard operating procedures on crowd control.
“It was further established that even though nobody was hit by a bullet, the police’s handling of the incident was poor and fell short of the standard operating procedures,” the statement said.
Accordingly, the police have sanctioned three key officers who were at the helm of affairs during the incident. “The Deputy Regional Commander, DCOP/Mr. Kwasi Akomeah- Apraku, who was acting as the Regional Commander, has been removed from his position and has been interdicted.” Two officers, ACP/Mr. George Ankomah, Regional Operations Officer and ACP/Alex Cudjoe Acquah, Suame Divisional Police Commander, have also been interdicted to make way for a thorough investigation into the incident.”
The statement also said the police’s response to the protesting students is also being fully investigated by the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB).
According to the police, calm has since been restored to the scene, and the students and police officers who were injured in the process are responding to treatment at various hospitals.
