Minister of Home Affairs Commends Riot Squad!

Kareem Musa

New Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa praised the police officers who responded to the spate of gun violence in the city.  Musa says that the officers displayed remarkable control in the face of a hostile environment where they were greeted with projectiles.  According to Musa, when the cops are faced with such threats, they are justified to respond and quell the situation on the ground.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs & New Growth Industries

“Let me first of all commend the officers as I commend the Commissioner of Police about an hour ago when we first met. When I saw the amateur video, I was impressed by the level of restraint that was exercised by the officers in that amateur video. Let us not forget that everything that we do including our police officers will be filmed, will be videoed. So, every step of the way we saw where our officers came under heavy attack, like you said, projectiles being stoned at them and yet they exercised remarkable control and restraint and for that I commend them.   The individuals who were attacking the police last night are very lucky that the police didn’t react in a justified manner because there are situations, and I said it the last week at the first press briefing, that it is not every situation there is excessive use of force simply because the police man-handled somebody in order to arrest them. It is not every situation – there are some instances where they are coming under attack in which case they are justified to use force, certainly not excessive force but they can respond in kind. So, I commend the officers last night. It is a very tough job with a lot of tension in the streets with the murders that took place. It is a tough one but at the end of the day they are justified in responding with reasonable force if it comes upon them.”