News / Local
Eveline Girls detained over electricity demo
11 Nov 2013 at 15:41hrs | Views
EVELINE Girls High School pupils traded their books for placards on Saturday as they held a peaceful demonstration to show their displeasure over the lack of electricity at their boarding houses since Thursday.
Eveline Girls High School in Bulawayo has three hostels, Langdon House, Mackintosh House and Northward House. Mackintosh House and Northward House have been cut off from the power grid since Thursday as a result the occupants complained to the school authorities that lack of electricity had seen them failing to study and iron their clothes.
Last Friday morning the pupils gave the school authorities an ultimatum to have electricity restored by Friday evening or they were going to take their protest to the streets or go home.
Nightfall came but no power was restored.
Saturday morning the pupils who had had enough called a meeting when their matron was not around and resolved to march to Langdon House and to the school block.
A-level pupils who were the instigators of the demonstration are said to have instructed others who included Form One to Form Four pupils to wear their school uniforms for the demonstration to be effective.
At around 11am the pupils armed with placards and buckets marched to Langdon House and the administration block singing and chanting demanding power to be reconnected.
According to witnesses the pupils were uttering obscenities during their protest march.
Unbeknown to the protesting pupils, police officers were writing an examination at Eveline High School. When the pupils marched into the school premises their demonstration was stopped and they dispersed as the law enforcement agents who were writing examinations did not tolerate the disruption and called in the riot police.
The pupils took to their heels when they saw riot police pulling into the school.
Police pursued the fleeing pupils to their boarding houses where they managed to arrest eight A-level students who are alleged to have been the ringleaders of the protest.
The eight students were taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station where they were detained from around midday to 4pm.
Eveline Girls High School in Bulawayo has three hostels, Langdon House, Mackintosh House and Northward House. Mackintosh House and Northward House have been cut off from the power grid since Thursday as a result the occupants complained to the school authorities that lack of electricity had seen them failing to study and iron their clothes.
Last Friday morning the pupils gave the school authorities an ultimatum to have electricity restored by Friday evening or they were going to take their protest to the streets or go home.
Nightfall came but no power was restored.
Saturday morning the pupils who had had enough called a meeting when their matron was not around and resolved to march to Langdon House and to the school block.
A-level pupils who were the instigators of the demonstration are said to have instructed others who included Form One to Form Four pupils to wear their school uniforms for the demonstration to be effective.
According to witnesses the pupils were uttering obscenities during their protest march.
Unbeknown to the protesting pupils, police officers were writing an examination at Eveline High School. When the pupils marched into the school premises their demonstration was stopped and they dispersed as the law enforcement agents who were writing examinations did not tolerate the disruption and called in the riot police.
The pupils took to their heels when they saw riot police pulling into the school.
Police pursued the fleeing pupils to their boarding houses where they managed to arrest eight A-level students who are alleged to have been the ringleaders of the protest.
The eight students were taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station where they were detained from around midday to 4pm.
Source - sundaynews
