Over 300 rioting Hone students arrested
“The students damaged some infrastructure at the institution’s clinic, the administration block and they also pulled down the wall fence that demarcates Evelyn Hone and the National Institute for Public Administration (NIPA) and they went on to pull down the wall fence that demarcates the college and ZICAS.”
POLICE have arrested over 300 students from Lusaka’s Evelyn Hone College for riotous behaviour.
Students on Wednesday night protested against alleged delays by TEVETA to release their 2017 end of year exam results which a large number of them had failed. Speaking to the Daily Nation, police spokesperson Esther Katongo said police arrested 126 students during a riot at Evelyn Hone College on Wednesday afternoon and 207 more at 23:00 hrs when the riot reignited, bringing the total number of arrested students to 333. She said the students damaged infrastructure at the institution. “The students damaged some infrastructure at the institution’s clinic, the administration block and they also pulled down the wall fence that demarcates Evelyn hone and the National Institute for Public Administration (NIPA) and they went on to pull down the wall fence that demarcates the college and ZICAS,” Ms Katongo said. She said among the arrested were students from both Evelyn hone college and NIPA. Ms Katongo said students should find better ways of addressing their grievances and not resort to violence. She said police would not tolerate unlawful behaviour and any student who decided to cause havoc and anarchy risked being arrested. She said that the union representatives who were expected to be controlling their members were sadly seemingly the ones inciting students to run amok. Ms Katongo said all the arrested students were currently in police custody. Meanwhile Minister of Information and Broadcasting Dora Siliya said the culture of airing grievances through violence must come to an end in institutions of higher learning. She said government would not take kindly to students that resorted to violence to air their grievances. Ms Siliya said learning institutions were places that harboured great thinkers and it was therefore disappointing that their behaviour depicted otherwise. She said police had acted rightly by arresting the students adding that whoever was found wanting would be dealt with in accordance with the law.