Nine students detained in connection with brawl at Petra University

AMMAN — The Public Security Department (PSD) said that the prosecutor general ordered the detention of nine students on Thursday in connection with a brawl at the University of Petra (UoP).

PSD Spokesperson Amer Sartawi was quoted by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, as saying that that the detainees were charged with carrying firearms without a licence and causing injury to others.

Sartawi said that police rushed to the UoP upon learning that a fight had erupted between a number of students, during which firearms were used. The spokesperson added that nine students, were arrested in connection with the fight.

Gunfire erupted during a fight among students on Tuesday at the UoP. Gendarmerie personnel stepped-up their presence on campus the following day and the UoP announced that it had suspended 10 students.

The incident was the extension of an earlier fight, the cause of which was not disclosed by UoP officials.

The perpetrators of Tuesday’s violence were reportedly the relatives of one of the people involved in the earlier fight. Students said they were wearing “black masks” to hide their identity.

Students and members of academia described the phenomena of violence on university campuses as both a “trend” and a “pattern of behaviour” on social media.