A number of students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), have suffered various degrees of injuries following a clash between members of the University Hall aka Katanga and Unity Hall aka Conti on Sunday.
The students also destroyed school property including chairs and glasses.
According to the Public Relations officer of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) at KNUST, Caleb Asamoah Temeng, the incident occurred during the vetting of aspirants for the school’s SRC at the Great Hall of the University.
He explained that the incident begun during the procession of the two halls noted for their rivalry into the Great Hall to support their candidates who were aspiring for posts in the SRC.
He said, “When the ‘Katangees’ arrived, there was some sort of confusion between them and the Continentals. One gentleman believed to be part of the management team of an aspirant from Conti was preventing the ‘Katangees’ from entering the Hall. This caused the first chaos between the two sides.”
The management team member was beaten to a pulp by the infuriated University Hall students and got injured when a bottle he had on him broke and cut his fingers and other parts of his body.
The scuffle continued inside the Great Hall during the vetting of an aspirant who was from neither halls.
The students from the rival halls were said to have been making excessive noise, disrupting the ongoing proceedings.
The Electoral Commission unable to handle the rapidly escalating situation decided it was best the procedure be postponed, following which, a full blown fight broke out.
According to Caleb Temeng, the students further vandalized school property in the process.
“……it is believed that the Continentals first threw a bottle of urine in the direction of where the ‘Katangees’ had gathered. So the ‘Katangees’ also retaliated. The exchange was followed by the destruction of chairs in the great hall”, Caleb Asamoah Temeng mentioned.
“The fight broke, It was very bizarre. Someone even threw a machete, which is suspected to have hurt someone. There were knives and other weapons that were used to attack members of the halls involved. I can say there are both minor and major injuries that need urgent medical attention “, he added.
Security personnel on campus have, for the intervening time, restored calm on campus.
