COP KILLS ONE, AND WOUNDED FOUR AT AYIREBI

18/02/08
Story: Mary Mensah
The Police Administration had directed investigations into the rioting and shooting incident at Ayirebi and are appealing to witnesses to state their side of the story to enable the police to get to the bottom of the incident.
The Director of the Police Public Affairs Directorate, DSP Kwesi Ofori who disclosed this to the Graphic in an interview in Accra today said it is unlawful for the youth to block a major road with planks and burn lorry tyres.
He said such actions disrupts public peace and should not be encouraged because public demonstrations on issues should be in line with the public order law which enjoins organisers of demonstrations to notify the police five days before the event.
DSP Ofori indicated that police will then discuss the basic security arrangement with the organisers and this is to make the demonstration peaceful and incident free one.
“ But for the youth to take the law into their own hands by barricading the Ofoase Ayirebi Oda road with lorry tyres and huge wooden planks is unlawful and should be condermed”, he said.
According to him the road is a major one and such actions would prevent vehicular flow, it might also caused inconvenience to travellers and also affect economic activities in the area.
He said issues of such nature needs careful investigations and the police will leave no stone un turn in their bid to get to the bottom of the matter and added that the shooting took place when the police arrives on the scene and tried to clear the road to allow free flow of traffic which had mounted at the time.
The Director stated that the matter would be investigated taking into accounts the rules and regulations on the discharge of weapons and the prevailing situation at the time of the shooting.
He appealed to the youth, opinion leaders and chiefs to remain calm while the matter is investigated.