KNUST: Police secure bench warrant to arrest 62 persons

The Police have secured a bench warrant to arrest 62 persons who were allegedly involved in the disturbances that occurred at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) that led to destructions of properties and injuring of students.

Two persons including an old student who were arrested in connection with the riot have been remanded in police custody, TV3’s Ibrahim Abubakar reported on Wednesday.

It is unclear what sparked the violent clashes but reports say students of University Hall, popularly known as Katanga, embarked on a procession which ended up in the precincts of Unity Hall, popularly known as Conti(nental). The rivalry between the two halls has been age-long.

Students pelted stones at one another, resulting in vandalism of some properties including vehicles parked on campus.

Police moved in to restore calm while the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) issued a warning to any persons or group of persons harbouring intentions to embark on reprisal demonstration on campus.

Meanwhile, the management of the KNUST has decided to withdraw the certificates of former students who took part in the riot on campus.

This was revealed by the Head of University Relations, Daniel Norris Bekoe in an interview with Alfred Ocansey on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3, Friday August 19.

“We will revoke their certificate, we awarded the certificate and alumni caught involved in this will have the certificate revoked,” he said.

The University has also decided to make students at the Katanga Hall pay for the cost of repairing the vehicles that were damaged during the riot.

Mr Norris Bekoe said Katanga students were the ones who stormed the Unity Hall and caused the mayhem during the procession as captured on a Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV).

He said “I can confirm that we are picking a lot individuals who took part in it, we have identified some of them and we are going to hand them over to the Police. Some of them came from the University of Cape Coast, Casley Hayford Hall, numbering 40.”

He added, “The vehicles belonging to staff will be fixed and Katanga students will bear the cost, nine vehicles.”

source: 3 News