By Olimatou Coker
Police on Thursday said it deployed personnel to swiftly respond to reports of youths taking to the streets in Jabang, ‘where tires were set ablaze on the main highway, obstructing traffic and movement’.
According to the police, the PIU temporal guard post in Jabang during the melee was attacked with the attackers going away with mattresses, bags and mobile phones belonging to officers. “Two officers sustained minor injuries and have since been treated and discharged, the rioters dispersed and 36 individuals arrested,” the police statement said.
The police described the situation in the village as calm with more investigations into the incident.
However residents of Jabang have in turn accused the police of handedness with officer’s indiscriminately firing tear gas into private compounds and even stealing cash and mobile phones.
Amidou Bokum, a resident who spoke to a Kerr Fatou reporter, alleged that officers confiscated his mobile phone and money in the sum of D3,150 an incident he said has been reported to the police station with an officer promising to investigate the matter.
Another resident, Journalist Kaddijatou Bokum of GRTS accused the police of traumatising her family during the melee.
The alkalo of Jabang, Gibril Colley, said Thursday’s confrontation began after unidentified individuals started digging a foundation on Jabang’s reserved land, claiming it had been allocated to them by a man from Sukuta.
Contacted on the allegation of theft by police officers, PRO Modou Musa Sisawo said he is not aware of any such reports, adding that such behaviour is not expected from police officers and urged complainants to report such allegations to the police.
