Day students end-of-year party turned into clash with police

WhILE their counterparts in various primary and secondary schools across the country were celebrating their 2012 end-of- the-year party in grand style, this was not the case for some secondary schools’ children in Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government Area, Ajegunle, Lagos, as their party ended abruptly in a brawl with men of Ajegunle Divisional Police Headquarters, last Thursday.
Numbering about 3, 000 students, they gathered on Akerele and Otuniyo Streets in Awodi-Ora area of the community to celebrate what many of them described as a hitch-free first term of the 2012/2013 academic session, which was heralded by an annual Inter-House Sports Competition organized by Awodi-Ora Secondary School, Ajegunle.

Police and students clashed

According to a student, who resides in the community, but pleaded anonymity,  no fewer than 20 public secondary schools in the community had been invited by Awodi-Ora Secondary School for an inter-school relays competition. After the competition ended, some of the students who lived around hired a Disc-Jockey (DJ), who rented the air with musical jibes emanating from his loud speakers.
As the party took-off, he said that most of the students present, took to reckless consumption of alcohol, smoking of Indian hemps, cigarettes and sexual assault of the female folks in broad day light. These acts, he however, said did not go down well with some residents who alerted men of the Ajegunle Divisional Police Headquarters, who stormed the area in a Police hilux van to restore sanity to the community.
“To our surprise, the first team of policemen who stormed the scene of the party were cowed by the students that all was well, and they left, with the students continuing in their rendezvous. No less than an hour later, another team of policemen arrived the scene, in a yellow-marked Danfo bus, but were welcomed harshly by the students, who threw stones and broken bottles at them.”
According to him, the plain-clothed armed Policemen, numbering about six were enraged as the students had smashed the rear windscreen of their bus with stones and broken bottles.
“They came down, shooting sporadically into the air and with canisters to disperse the irate students,” he revealed.
However, when Vanguard Learning visited the community, the swift action of the Policemen had scared the students who took to their heels. The Police made some arrests, while taking away one of the loud speakers and other equipment used by the DJ to liven the party.