The police in Tonga say the issue of school violence is not a law enforcement issue, but is a national crisis that everyone should be responsible for.
147 current and former students of Tupou College, and a teacher from the college, are expected to appear in court today in relation to last week's attack on Tonga College students.
An ex-Tonga College student, Taniela Halahuni, has multiple skull fractures and is in a critical condition.
The police commissioner, Grant O'Fee, says there is a much broader issue that needs to be dealt with, as to why school age young men are committing such violent crime.
"A lot of folk have said to me, 'Commissioner, you better deal with this, you and your staff have to resolve this' and my message is very clear, that is not the case. Unless we begin to address why this sort of violence and really bad criminal offending is happening, this particular group behaved like an out of control group of gang members in New Zealand would behave, and we've seriously got to confront that issue and ask why."
Grant O'Fee says the police are happy to be part of the process towards solving the school violence issue, but they are not the answer.
