.jpg "Agitated students of the Kumasi Technical Institute")
Why the police clashed with KTI students in Kumasi
Jubilation by students of the Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI) last Tuesday night turned violent when they clashed with the police in Kumasi after they had mounted unauthorised road blocks to disrupt traffic in parts of the Kumasi metropolis.
Advertisement
The students were jubilating for qualifying to the super zonal stage of the Ashanti regional inter-school athletic competition.
Conflicting reports
While the police claim that the students had thrown stones at them, injuring five policemen and damaging the windscreens of three of their vehicles, the students and the school authorities described the claim as a lie.
The police were said to have forced their way into some of the dormitories of the KTI to beat some of the students who were preparing for dinner. They were also alleged to have destroyed the food at the dining hall while they vandalised beds, and other belongings.
Some of the windows to the dormitories had bullet holes in them, with blood stains, as a result of the police brutalities on some of the floors.
The police allegedly fired live ammunitions into the dormitories and offices of the school in their attempt to force open the locked places to effect arrest of students they suspected to have been part of the group that blocked roads.
Fifteen students who sustained various degrees of injury during the brutalities were admitted to the hospital, while 35 others were detained by the police.
Teachers of the school were not also spared in the brutalities as they were allegedly subjected to beatings by the police.
Principal
According to the Principal of the school, Dr Joseph Abaiku Apprey, the students had returned from the stadium where they qualified to progress to the super zonal of the inter-school competition.
He said the school had taken part in the Ashanti Regional Inter-School Athletics Competition where they placed third and, therefore, qualified for the next stage.
He said amid singing and dancing, the students stopped between the Amakom and the Zongo Railway Junction, where they were dancing and singing on the streets.
He said their action disrupted traffic, so they were asked by the police to clear the road to which they complied and moved to the WAEC Junction, just in front of the school, where they continued with the jubilation.
Dr Apprey said it was there that the police attacked the students.
He said when the students fled to the campus, the police followed them amid firing of tear gas and live bullets.
Police
The Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Mohammed Yussif Tanko, who confirmed the incident to the Daily Graphic, said the police had earlier arrested some of the students for rioting at the stadium during the day.
As a result, he said the students blocked the road to traffic to demand the release of their colleagues.
However, he explained that the police went to the scene to clear the road and make way for traffic, but were met with stones and ‘missiles’ from the students which led to the injury of five policemen and causing damage to three of their cars.
He said the police had to use tear gas to disperse the students to enable traffic to flow and also effect the arrest of those who vandalised the police cars.
Although a live bullet, allegedly picked from the scene, was shown to the Daily Graphic, the police denied using live bullets during the ‘clash’.
Visit
When the Daily Graphic visited the school yesterday morning, some of the students had gathered in front of the school armed with offensive objects, ostensibly to avenge the attack on them.
Armed with stones and sticks with red bands around their heads, they tried to attack a police pick-up that had been parked just across the street to monitor events, but were restrained by their teachers. Sensing danger, the police vehicle sped off.
Smashed glasses from the school’s notice boards and office doors were scattered all over the school’s compound.
Minister
The Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, who was in the region for a programme, visited the school and had a meeting with the police where he asked that those arrested should be released, while the police continued with their investigations.
Mr Tanko told the Daily Graphic that the police were in the process of releasing the students on police enquiry bail.