SEVEN male students of the Frome Technical High School in Westmoreland were yesterday arrested by the police after fierce fighting between students and a local gang on the school compound aborted classes for a second day.

The names and ages of the seven students were not released by the police. However, Constable Anthony Simpson of the Frome Police Station told the Observer yesterday that they have been charged with possession of offensive weapons and disorderly conduct.

Three students are so far known to be injured in the fighting which started last Friday.

A school prize-giving ceremony was planned for today, but that is unlikely to be held.

“I don’t think we’ll be seeing any students here,” a female teacher told the Observer yesterday. “They are shaken up.”

It was unclear up to last night what sparked the dispute. Both the teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and Constable Simpson, said they did not know.

What has emerged, though, is that one of the protagonists was a gang called Hot Roses, made up of present and former male students of the school.

Most of the boys involved in the dispute were said to be 11th graders, whose average age is about 17.

According to the teacher, last Friday morning, some time after the 7:00 am start of the school’s first shift, boys who attend school during the afternoon shift invaded the compound and attacked their rivals who were already in class.

“One of the boys on the morning shift was stabbed and another beaten,” the teacher said of the Friday incident.

Yesterday, the afternoon shift boys returned “shortly after 11 o’clock” and engaged in a similar skirmish with the morning shift boys. This time a student was cut and was taken to hospital.

“They had machetes, ice picks and stones,” the teacher said.

One of the boys, Constable Simpson told the Observer, had a gun “but he got away”.

“They were all over the school. Everybody had to run. Trust me, I was shaken up,” the teacher said.

No classes were held after the fight on either day.

The teacher, who said she left the school immediately after the fight started, told the Observer that she had been in contact with some of her 60 colleagues who have vowed not to return to work under those conditions.

She said she had heard, but could not confirm, that a staff meeting was held by the principal, Ricardo Gayle, yesterday morning to address Friday’s incident.

Gayle had apparently left the school compound yesterday when the Observer telephoned and could not be contacted for comment.

However, whenever he is able to again meet with his staff they are likely to insist on the immediate expulsion of the boys guilty of fuelling the feud.

“We wanted those boys thrown out of the school a long time ago,” the teacher said. “They have been known to be troublemakers for more than a year now.”