 Kingston town centre ground to a halt last week as police closed major roads around Kingston College on the Kingston Hall Road to search for knives after a brawl between college students got out of hand.
Although police downplayed early reports of a stabbing at the college, close to Kingston’s busy shopping centre, roads were sealed off causing chaos to local motorists while police dogs were brought in to look for weapons. A police spokeswoman said: “We investigated reports of an altercation involving a knife. We put a scene in place and officers investigated but as yet we have no victim or suspect. Both boys are believed to have run away from the scene and so we are monitoring the hospitals.” Police began sealing off the area shortly after 4.15pm. Sniffer dogs from the New Malden-based dogs unit were then deployed and conducted an intensive search of the area by the Hogsmill River, presumably in search of a weapon. A forensic team then took samples from the railings on the pedestrian crossing in front of the college. One onlooker, Spingar Mohammed, a student at Kingston College, said a couple of college students were involved in the incident and that a knife had been brandished. Another student suggested that a knuckle duster was involved. St James’s Road was also shut off for the duration of the investigation, forcing buses to take on temporary diversions. The investigation lasted over an hour in total. A 65 route driver caught up in the chaos said: “The police have blocked the road up and I’ve been told to take another route which they’re working out at the moment. It’s chaos. I don’t know what’s going on- they won’t tell me anything about what’s going on.”
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