http://www.theage.com.au/frontpage/20001114/A49363-2000Nov14.html
300 boys attack girls school
THREE hundred Kenyan schoolboys tried to fight their way into a neighbouring
co-educational school on Saturday night, allegedly in an attempt to rape the
school's 200 female boarders.
After a pitched battle with the girls and their male classmates lasting most
of the night, the boys were dispersed when police arrived and fired shots
over their heads. Thirty-four boys were yesterday (Mon) arrested in
connection with the attack, which apparently failed in its objective.
"This raid was well organised," said a teacher at the besieged Ndururmo
Mixed High School in Kenya's Central Province, who wished to remain
anonymous. "The invaders came dressed in our uniforms which they had stolen
on Thursday night. We suspect they planned to rape the girls."
Several dozen students were injured in the attack, which began when the boys
gathered around the girls' dormitory at 10pm, reportedly high on drink and
drugs. Alerted by the girls' screams as the intruders tried to force their
way in, male pupils came running from their own dormitory to fight them off
with broken-up chairs and other makeshift weapons.
Police called all 600 pupils of Nyahururu Boys High School, at the foot of
Mt. Kenya, to an inspection yesterday morning. Any boy with fresh cuts or
bruises was arrested. However, many of the schoolboys were thought to be
hiding in nearby maize fields to escape arrest.
The incident is only the latest example of the violence currently plaguing
Kenya's schools. More than 100 pupil riots have been reported this year. In one
recent incident, schoolboys set their matron's house alight after she refused them
access to their female classmates' dormitory. In another, high school pupils
attempted to burn their prefects alive, complaining that they were too
strict.
Annie RU
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By James Astill in Nairobi
Tuesday 14 November 2000
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