Fr Luonde calls for an end to police brutality against students
By Staff Reporter
Socialist Party spokesperson Fr Richard Luonde has called on the PF to stop brutalizing students at institutions of higher learning.
Reacting on the brutal beating of Copperbelt University students on Friday by the police which led to the death of a student yesterday morning, Fr Luonde said there was no justification for the police brutality against defenceless students.
He advised that government should have dialogued with students who had legitimate concern over the withdrawal of meal allowances announced last week by higher education minister Nkandu Luo.
“They are students who came from very responsible families, and they go to universities just to attain higher education so that they are able to find a job to help their families, and reduce the burden of poverty in their homes, but the government pushes them and use brutality to act,” Fr luonde said.
“The students want to protest on the poor service of the education system, but before they could do that they were followed in their dormitories and brutalised. We don’t treat your fellow citizen in that manner, if they had broken the law, they could have at least address them and find out why they have to do that, and unlike just going there brutalize them and arrest them.”
Fr luonde wondered why the PF government could turn violent against the students instead of attending to the withdrawal of meal allowances concerns.
“They go to buy fire tenders at one million US Dollars each and all that money could have been used to pay the students the meal allowances and project allowances, but they decided to buy the fire tenders because they benefit from them. The police should instead go out and arrest the people involved in the corruption of purchasing the fire tenders than brutalizing and arresting students,” he lamented.
