Public blame police for stampede

The Weekend Statesman says Public outrage has been directed to the doorstep of the police whom many believe were responsible for the stampede that took place at the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday leading to the death of 126 people.

The public has blamed the police for the tragic incident, triggered after they fired tear gas in an attempt to control violence during the football match between the two top clubs, Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko.

Charles Asante who escaped death in the stampede told says the police overreacted. "They should have taken a cue from the Hearts vs. Esperance match last December when the tear gas caused so much confusion and be more cautious, especially as it was clear that the crowd had panicked." Others believe that sports authorities need to begin to look at the whole issue of stadium violence and crowd control.

"The issue is about how well we train our police in effective crowd control," said Ama Atta, a trader. "Obviously the stadium has not been built to be emergency friendly. I mean just look at the barbed wire all around and those narrow gates, how will any body be able to escape in case of an emergency?" she wondered.