NO NEED FOR VIOLENCE

PURSUING JUSTICE AND EQUITY WITH INTEGRITY

VIOLENCE begets violence, so the saying goes. This is very apt in the case of the Copperbelt University where students took to the streets rioting and stoning vehicles passing near the Riverside campus on Jambo Drive in Kitwe.

This is unfortunate because the Zambia Police responded in an even harsher manner to stop the riot.

Arising from this are varying reports on social media, some with a lot of exaggeration, claiming that a death was recorded in the incident. However, this has been discredited by the university management and the Kitwe General Hospital.

And now there is a disturbing report that there was an invisible political hand urging students to riot. This can only be an act of a desperate politician who will stop at nothing to gain power.

Higher Education Minister, Professor Nkandu Luo told Parliament yesterday that disgruntled politicians were behind the Copperbelt University “Al Shaabab” protest at the Kitwe campus.

“I want to use this advantage to speak to the politicians here. They know themselves, the one who was behind the al Shaabab protest at Kitwe campus knows himself. Please desist from taking trouble at higher learning institutions. It is a place where we want students to get an education so that they can contribute to the economic dispensation of this nation,” she said.

It is sad that some politicians want to take advantage of students who may have a genuine reason to protest.

It is no wonder that some politicians were quick to spread misinformation about the purported death on campus. Sad as it may seem, it would appear that the said politician was driven by the desire to use the incidence to gain some political mileage by speaking out and seeming to champion the students’cause when in fact not.

This kind of desperation for media attention is dangerous and we are glad that Prof Luo chastened the culprit.

We feel that without undue influence of outsiders, the students’ union was better placed to handle the students’ grievances with the university management without resorting to rioting.

As it is, this is now all water under the bridge, and we can only advise both students and police to exercise more restraint when dealing with a highly emotive matter.

While we condemn the heavy handed manner in which police handled the protesting students, we also want to advise students to handle their grievances in a more civilised manner.

It is wrong for the aggrieved students to set on innocent and unsuspecting motorists and in this case even passers-by with stones.

When one picks a stone with intent to use it as weapon, they know very well what they want to achieve. The intention is obviously to damage the vehicle and maybe injure the occupants.

It is such action that forces police to use force to stop attacks on the public. If the students confined their protests within their campus and without throwing any stones, we doubt that there would have been forceful retaliation from the police.

On the other hand, we also feel that Police tend to send inexperienced officers to quell riots and this often ends badly, because rookie cops fail to practice restraint under pressure.

We think that Police have the capacity to handle protesting students without creating unnecessary damage or injuring students in the process.

As professionals, they are well equipped to handle public disturbances without causing injury. There is no excuse for battering students and police must stop this use of unnecessary force against protesters.