The Ghanaian Police on Tuesday in Accra directed the Synagogue Church to stop hosting worship sessions at its Spintex Road church for security reasons.
The police ordered the church to relocate to a more convenient venue.
Accra Regional Police Commander, Mr Christian Yehonu, said in a statement that the recent tragedy in the church could have been avoided if the church had been located at a bigger worship centre.
A stampede had occurred at the church premises on Sunday May 19 leading to the death of four persons while several others were injured.
The Ghanaian media had reported that the stampede occurred when worshippers rushed to collect `anointed water’ given to members of the church during the worship.
Yehonu said the directive was to avoid a similar occurrence in the future due to the number of worshippers who visit the church during worship days.
“The place is very small to manage a congregation of such magnitude; we are suggesting that the Accra Sports Stadium or the Independence Square will be a better alternatives to contain the crowd,’’ he said.
Reacting to the incident, some members of the church expressed shock over the incident, saying that frantic efforts were made to avert the tragedy.
Sam Mc-Canan, a pastor in the church, described the incident as unfortunate and tragic.
“We have not seen this before, the crowd was really more than we have ever seen but we did not expect this to happen; the entire church is devastated’,’’ he said.
NAN
