Police clash with K'Poly students

Koforidua, Sept. 2, GNA - A skirmish broke out between students of the Koforidua Polytechnic and the police at Koforidua on Tuesday, when a team of policemen attempted to arrest some male residents of the Universal Hostel at Adweso, a suburb of Koforidua, following a complaint by a female student that she had been manhandled.

One of two police officers sent on the mission was injured in a scuffle as students massed-up to overpower them in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Police had to call for re-enforcement to quell the melee and succeeded in arresting ten of the students who were granted police enquiry bail, following an intervention by the school authorities. But the affected students would report to the police at 0600 hours daily until investigations into the case were over, the school authorities said.

A student leader, speaking to the GNA on condition of anonymity at Koforidua on Friday, said the misunderstanding arose over the drenching of a female student by some jubilant male residents of the hostel who were celebrating the elections of new executives. The aggrieved female student according to the leader, in an act of reprisal, poured some foreign substances into the well serving the hostel the following day, whereupon, some inmates also retaliated by vandalizing her room a few kilometres away and destroying some of her personal effects.

The female student, the GNA learnt, thereafter lodged a report to the police that her property worth one million cedis had been damaged by the rampaging students that rushed into her room.

It was the attempt by the policemen to arrest the suspected inmates that precipitated the scuffle, the spokesman said.

Authorities at the Polytechnic confirmed the incident on Friday and appealed for calm as they were in dialogue with the Eastern Regional Police Command on an amicable settlement of the issue. Mr Asante Antwi, Public Affairs Officer of the Polytechnic, told the GNA that the school authorities had intervened in the case to avoid further escalation of the feud and to allow for the resolution of the conflict.

He said a meeting with the Police Command had been arranged to get a reprieve for the affected students to enable them to take part in the Polytechnic's end of semester examinations, which were underway while long-term strategies were sought to ensure similar incidents did not recur.

A police source warned that the Service would not be passive to deviant acts from any quarters including students. 02 Sept. 06