An injured student is held by private security guards. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
11 October 2016
Tensions at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) campuses reached boiling point this morning, with police firing stun grenades, tear-gas and rubber bullets at stone-throwing protesters.
Twelve arrests were made at the Bellville campus, three at the Cape Town campus and another four at the Mowbray campus. During the day of clashes between police, private security and students, a minibus was set alight at the Cape Town campus and at least two students at the Bellville campus were injured in the face.
By midmorning, a large group of students had gathered outside the administration building at the Bellville campus, demanding that vice-chancellor Prins Nevhutalu address them. A student leader told the crowd that Nevhutalu had locked himself inside his office, as had the director of marketing.
“We requested to engage, we tried. There is nothing else to do,” he said.
Following this, students began to throw rocks as well as water-filled condoms at private security officials. They walked to the railway line and collected stones.
On their return there were running battles between students and police, with police firing stun grenades, rubber bullets, and teargas at the students. A small fire was also set, which was extinguished by a water cannon.
Lauren Kansley, CPUT’s spokesperson, told GroundUp it was due to “legitimate security concerns” that the vice-chancellor had not addressed the students. She said that he had addressed the students as a group on three occasions in the last week and that a delegation of students had been allowed into the building to discuss the situation.
Students took cover in residences and attempted to barricade themselves inside, but public order police entered a number of residences, arresting students that they found. An officer was heard instructing his colleagues, “If you see anyone – arrest”.
At another residence journalists were told that we couldn’t enter “for our own safety” as the police were “going to use gas” inside. Teargas could be smelt from outside the residence.
A student could be heard shouting from inside another residence: “Lock your rooms!”
Only a couple of students were arrested during these residence searches as it appeared that protesters hid in fellow students’ rooms.
One student who was arrested inside the Anglo residence, repeatedly asked the police why she was being arrested.
When told that she was being arrested for public violence she asked how she could be charged with public violence in her own residence.
“Why am I being arrested?” asks student after being arrested in res @GroundUp_News #CPUT #Fees2017 pic.twitter.com/RAY3ZDqX3x
— Ashleigh Furlong (@ashleighfurlong) October 11, 2016
Video: Ashleigh Furlong
Student leader Lukhanyo Vangqa told GroundUp that the two students whose suspensions were lifted on Friday had been re-suspended as classes had not returned to normal in spite of the agreement surrounding the lifting of the suspension.
Kansley said that this had not been confirmed yet. But in a statement before the protests began today, Nevhutalu said, “Exco of Council accepted the lifting of the suspension of two former student leaders and made this conditional upon the campus situation returning back to normal from Monday 10 October onwards. Should the situation not stabilize the lifting of the suspensions will be revoked.”
While the situation at the Bellville campus began to quieten, a minibus was set alight at the Cape Town campus as protesters spilled out onto the streets.
Outside City Edge residence in Cape Town, bricks and a glass bottle were thrown at a police Nyala by students who had locked themselves into the building.
A worried student told GroundUp that she had an assignment due but her partner, who had some of the work, was inside the residence and couldn’t get out. She said the students were only violent when police were brought onto the scene.