Apia school stoned in attack by villagers

Press, 27 June 1983, Page 8

Apia school stoned in attack by villagers

NZPA special correspondent Apia Angry villagers pelted a Government school near Apia with stones last week, resulting in the school’s closing. Extensive damage was caused to the school. Almost all the windows of one building were broken and a hole was made in the door of another building. Two pupils are believed to have been injured in the incident, in which a villager was seen armed with a gun — but this was not fired.

It is not clear when the school, Vaivase Technical Institute, would reopen. The attackers were from the village of Magiagi where earlier in the year a clash during a volleyball game resulted in a man being injured by gunshot. In that incident, the house of a man who fired the gun was burnt to the ground and when the police and the Fire Service arrived, their vehicles were pelted with stones. Last week’s bombardment followed up an incident the previous week in which a fist fight took place between

a pupil and a bus driver. Another pupil was injured in that fight. A pupil said the fight took place when the bus driver rebuked a pupil for not paying his fare. During the fight, Magiagi men and youths who were travelling in the bus were attacked by the pupils, according to onlookers. Last week Magiagi villagers went to the school armed with stones and attacked it. Some of the pupils fled and took refuge in another nearby Government school, Samoa College.