Protests turn violent at top Ghana university

Students at Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Knust) have mounted road blocks, vandalised property and boycotted lectures in protest over what they describe as unwarranted brutality by campus security and university management.

The trouble started at Knust, which is in the country's second city Kumasi, last Friday night after 11 students were arrested by police after taking part in their usual end-of-week party, known as jamborees, which the university authorities recently banned.

One student was injured while being arrested.

The university vice-chancellor had complained that the jamborees were often associated with misbehaviour and profanity on campus.

Knust's Student Representative Council called a boycott on lectures for Monday and called for a peaceful protest. But things turned violent as students began to express their frustration with the way that they had been treated.

Some have called for the vice-chancellor to step down and vowed to make the campus ungovernable.

They are also angry with changes that he has made to student accommodation, including turning previously men-only halls of residence to mixed-sex ones.

The hashtag #SayNoToBrutalityInKNUST has been trending on Twitter in Ghana as people share images and videos of what has been happening:

#NewsFlash: Security post vandalized. Security personnel run for their life. Peaceful demonstration goes bad. This is sad ???????? #KNUST #EnoughIsEnough #ActionNow #StudentsLiveMatter #SayNoToBrutalityInKNUST pic.twitter.com/M02T1vVg9a

— #NewsFlash (@Donsarkcess) October 22, 2018

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