More school vandalism and violence

AS TEACHERS prepare to strike tomorrow for the second time in weeks over the issue of safety in schools, three more incidents of vandalism and violence emerged in the past 48 hours.

A FIRE which broke at Acropoleos Lyceum in Nicosia early yesterday morning was the result of an arson attack, police said. The fire was started at around 1am in the school’s teachers’ room, and would have spread further had the Fire Service not arrived in time to put it out.

Nicosia police chief Kypros Michaelides said the perpetrators broke into the school, wrote graffiti on the walls and then set alight the teachers’ room. Other parts of the school were also damaged by the fire.

Education Minister Andreas Demetriou visited the school yesterday morning to witness the results of the arson. He called for those responsible to be brought to justice. Nicosia CID is investigating.

Meanwhile, a security guard working for Ayios Dometios Primary School said he saw six masked people break into school on Friday night. The guard was unable to apprehend any of the perpetrators who ran away on sight of the security officer. Nicosia CID is investigating the break-in.

In Limassol a schoolgirl was rushed to hospital when fireworks were thrown by unknown perpetrators in her school yard on Friday.

At around 1.30pm, as the 14-year-old was standing in the school yard with other pupils, someone or a group of people ignited fireworks, fragments of which caught the school girl’s legs. She was taken to hospital for treatment and later released.

Members of the Minor Crimes Unit and firework experts from Limassol police headquarters visited the school to investigate. Two 14-year-old pupils were questioned in the presence of their parents and their homes later searched though no incriminating evidence was found.

Meanwhile a television channel on Friday night showed footage of a teacher and pupil in a scuffle in a Paphos classroom. The scenes of the teacher and pupil pushing and pulling each other while the rest of the class watched in horror was taken from a mobile phone.

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