By Kenneth Thompson & Bampia Bundu
A pupil of the Ansarul Islamic Secondary School was alleged to have been shot dead by police following a violent clash between pupils and traders accused of occupying the premises of the school on Guard Street in Freetown.
According to some pupils who owned up to claims of obstructing a whole learning day by protesting, they were being “disturbed by the loud music coming from the traders who sell their wares very close to their classes”.
Some residents who spoke to Politico confirmed that the 21-year-old senior secondary school pupil, Mohamed Barrie, was “killed by stray bullet that was shot by the police”.
Principal of the school, Ibrahim Kamara, explained that violence broke out around 12 noon yesterday and as a way of calming the situation, he dispersed the pupils while he tried to amicably resolve the matter with the traders.
“As they were leaving the school compound, another confrontation broke out between them and the traders that led to the destruction of some structures in the school and caused the injury of several students”, Mr. Kamara said.
One of the pupils alleged that the situation was provoked by the traders “who attacked and threw stones at us first. When the police came, instead of them resolving the situation they started shooting tear gas canisters. The situation got tense and they started shooting which led to the death of one of our colleagues”.
Speaking on behalf of the police, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Chris Charley, said they couldn’t ascertain the nature of death of the student.
“We cannot say whether he was stabbed with a knife or he was shot. Also, we don’t know whether he was shot by the police or by someone within the community”, he said, adding that they were investigating the cause of the matter and in the next 48 hours they would come out with a report.
He said they were presently waiting for the pathologist’s report to ascertain the cause of death of the student.
He revealed that six of their personnel were presently hospitalized at the Kingtom Police Hospital due to severe injuries they sustained during the clash.
He claimed that the police officers who raided the scene arrested about two bags full of bottles, cutlasses, knives and other harmful objects inside the school compound.
When asked whether the police fired life rounds or not AIG Charley could not confirm, but said they had enough weapons that could be used for riotous conduct or public order incidents.
“We await the confirmation from the head of operations support division to know whether he dispatched armed police personnel with live rounds”, he said, adding that police had made several arrests at the scene and some of the suspects included traders, students and other youth in the community.
He appealed to anybody who had any information with regards the killing to go to the nearest police station and help with the process.
© Politico 12/11/13
