PESHAWAR: A large number of students of a private degree college here on Friday staged a protest demonstration after a heated debate over some religious matter.

The angry students blocked the busy Jamil Chowk on the Ring Road. They also smashed windowpanes of their classrooms and damaged the college buses.

A large contingent of police reached the college when situation went out of control. Videos made by students also circulated on social and mainstream media in which students were seen smashing windowpanes of their classrooms with bricks and stones.

Several students also received minor wounds.

In a statement issued to the media, the college’s administration said the students turned violent after an argument over some sectarian issue. It said some miscreants also joined the students when they were protesting outside the college, provoking them to violence.

“If any student or staff member was found involved in triggering the violence, they would be expelled from the college,” the statement warned.

An official of the Phandu police station told Dawn that no FIR had yet been registered.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2023