🇿🇲 BREAKING | Students Flood Streets in Rare Copperbelt Show of Solidarity for Hichilema
Copperbelt students poured into the streets this afternoon in a coordinated show of support for President Hakainde Hichilema, escalating a wave of public solidarity that has gathered momentum since the Chingola stoning incident a week ago.
Students from the Copperbelt University, Mukuba University and ZIBSIP marched from their campuses into surrounding roads, chanting pro-peace messages and condemning the violence that disrupted the President’s address in Chiwempala.
Heavy police presence shadowed the marches as the province continues to operate under elevated political tension.
The groups repeatedly described the Chingola attack as “an embarrassment to the nation,” echoing Copperbelt Minister Elisha Matambo, who has maintained that the stoning was engineered by political actors aiming to destabilise the province.
Today’s marches mark the third organised show of support in just over a week, following earlier demonstrations by UPND structures across the Copperbelt.
The timing of the student mobilisation is significant. The Copperbelt has long been Zambia’s pressure-valve, its universities often acting as early indicators of shifting national mood.
These reverberating street marches at this moment suggests that the ruling party is working to reassert control of the narrative after an unusually turbulent political week.
Images circulating online show tightly coordinated messaging, organised procession routes and visible engagement from student leadership.
Questions remain about how the marches were authorised, whether university management was informed, and what level of political influence shaped today’s turnout.
For now, what is clear is that Copperbelt students have entered the fray, adding a new and highly symbolic layer to a story that continues to evolve.
The march underlines the depth of reactions triggered by the Chingola violence and signal that the political temperature in the province remains high.
This is a developing story. More updates to follow.
📷: Diamond TV Online
© The People’s Brief | Ollus R. Ndomu
PEACE IS MOST CHERISHED IN THIS OUR NATION. ANYONE PROMOTING VIOLENCE IS NOT A LEADER BUT A THUG.
REAL POLITICIANS SELL THEIR AGENDA, THEY DO NOT ATTACK THEIR OWN FELLOW CITIZENS.
SEND THE SIGNAL, BRING IT ON PEACE LOVERS, TELL THEM VIOLENCE IS FOR PEOPLE THAT WANT TO FORCE THEMSELVES ON THE PEOPLE.
I LOVE ZAMBIANS FOR THEIR WISDOM.
HH is a dear friend of students countrywide, he is the president who values Education most after Kaunda. Attacking Hakainde is attacking the students and they can not afford to remain silent.
Fred and PF cadres have collapsed upon seeing this massive support for Bally.
Those thinly dispersed Students, and you call that massive student support.
Was in Kitwe, and actually work at one of those Institutions…there wasn’t much.
So ba UPND brief masquerading as People ‘s brief, don’t tell lies. You don’t know the people on this platform.
Appearances can be deceiving. Let him be deceived. The ending is already cast in stone. Uyu wena mufwidwe, umu yaashi.
REJECT TRIBALISM, CORRUPTION AND OPPRESSION.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
SAME DIFFERENCE, ALL POLITICAL PARTIES GO THROUGH THIS STANZA, AFTER GIVING KA SOMETHING TO STUDENT LEADERS, BUT HAS IT EVER WORKED. JUST DO YOUR JOB AND STOP DISTURBING STUDENTS. WHEN YOU DO YOUR JOB, YOU DONT NEED TO DO THE FAKE SHOWS OF SUPPORT. TIME IS TICKING, THESE SAME GUYS FAIL TO STUDY BECAUSE OF ELECTRICITY OUTAGES, ME I AM RESOLVED, I WILL VOTE FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN UPND.
Samlindo
You can hung.You don’t even have a proper degree.
No need for parades to claim support.
But the students should be warry of nkandu luo and her group.
Luo said we dont have the money for bursaries. They took the meal allowances away.
They are still trying to come back and take the allowances away.
The choice is yours as students.