KNUST: 12 injured, properties vandalized as Katanga and Conti clash

Violence broke out between two halls of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology(KNUST) yesterday, 18 August 2022. 

The clash that started on the school’s campus around 5 pm was between the University Hall (Katanga) and Unity Hall (Continental).

This left 12 students injured, whiles properties and three cars parked in front of the Continental Hall were destroyed.

The riot is said to have ensued when students from Katanga attempted to use a route in front of Continental in a procession as part of their Hall week celebrations.

University Hall, as part of the celebrations, commenced what they call a ‘Zulu procession’ through some parts of the campus but their colleagues at Unity Hall tried to stop them from using their frontage.

This led to students pelting stones at each other.

For over a decade, the two halls agreed never to go beyond the Peace Junction when on processions.

Personnel from the Ghana police have been deployed to the school to prevent the situation from further escalating.

Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional Security Council(REGSEC ) has issued a press release warning the students to desist from unlawful activities following the clash.

“The REGSEC is informing all students and residents of the university community that all actions intended by any person or group of persons to disturb the current peaceful security in the university will be addressed with the legal instrument of the state.”

“It is requested that people nursing such intentions desist from that and go by the rule of law as any breach of the peace in KNUST and the region will be addressed appropriately,” the press release added.

This comes barely two weeks after a similar rampage between the Commonwealth and Mensah Sarbah Halls at the University Of Ghana on 5 August 2022.

Reports suggest that the rampage started when a student from the Mensah Sarbarh Hall was beaten and his phone taken away during the ‘Sarbahfest’ celebration.

The resident returned to report the issue to his colleagues at the hall, who followed him to the Commonwealth Hall to fight back.

A vehicle at the Mensah Sarbah Hall car park was set ablaze while a bust of John Mensah Sarbah, situated outside the Mensah Sarbah Hall, was stolen.