The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kofi Boakye has alleged that some Journalists are behind the recent unrest in Krofrom in Kumasi.
According to him, these unnamed media persons are instigating the youth against the police, claiming that the latter colluded with a pathologist to come up with a fake report of a postmortem carried on a 22 year old Richmond Osei aka Tawia, who was allegedly brutalized to death by some police officers last week.
Family members of the deceased and residents have alleged that he was killed following beatings by some police men, a situation that led to the residents taking to the streets last Friday to express their anger.
It took DCOP Kofi Boakye’s intervention to restrain the youth assuring them that the police men who were alleged to have brutalized Richmond Osei will be prosecuted if a postmortem report establishes that the young man’s death was caused by the assault.
But the results of the postmortem said the deceased died from natural causes.
This infuriated the residents who took to the streets on Tuesday, burning tyres and blocking roads while others invoked curses on the police and the pathologist who conducted the postmortem.
Speaking to Kumasi based Nhyira FM, DCOP Kofi Boakye warned those interest groups behind the disturbances to desist from such acts as the Police will crush them with legitimate force.
“I will advise the youth in Krofuom that they should desist from any acts that may lead to other casualties. Because the police are not going to sit down for them to take the laws into their own hands and block the streets and do other violent acts. I know for a fact that because of this unfortunate incident there are some unscrupulous interest groups instigating them, some are even journalists trying to make allusion that police have connived with people without any sensible foundation.
“We are not going to tolerate any acts of violence and indiscipline in the name of this death. The Police are going to act swiftly and forcefully and without any shred of fear in dealing with this Krofrom issue. This should be the last time that anybody will come on the road, because if anybody comes on the road, we’re going to use any force at our disposal to ensure that discipline will prevail in the Ashanti Region. Those instigators must lead the demonstration so that they will come and meet the police face to face and we’ll let them know that we’re the only group which can use force sensibly in bringing law and order.”