CPUT students in race clash

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Cape Town - Students at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) were embroiled in violent racial clashes on Thursday, leaving some with head wounds.

Lectures were halted and the university was in lockdown while vehicles were prevented from entering or leaving.

The clash erupted between two groups of students, one black the other white, after about 300 protesting students blockaded both main gates of the university and stopped vehicles from passing through. During the clash, some students were injured when bricks and stones were hurled at them.



A CPUT student, who refused to have her name published, claimed she and other protesters had prevented cars from going in or out. A group of white students then started assaulting them and told them to get out of the way.
Copy of ct CPUT Bellville protest 7394 (48523631) Some CPUT students were wounded after violent racial clashes. Photo: Courtney Africa CAPE TIMES

“They started pushing us to the ground and forcing their way past. That’s when we fought back because we explained to them why we were blocking the gate.

“But they refused to listen and started to fight us. Why can’t they join us as fellow students? Why must they learn while we struggle.

“We are poor and don’t have money,” she said.

A student struck by a brick said he was next to the gate when the protesters attacked him and his friends. They all asked that their names not be published.

“They threw a brick at my head. I was standing here doing nothing. When we got here, they were already standing with bricks and stones in hand. Then they started throwing them at people,” he said.

He said the protesters did not want other students to attend their classes.

“Why do you have to shut the whole university and start throwing stones at people just to make a point? Why can’t you talk like civilised people to one another? Why do you need to attack people?” said another CPUT student who had been injured in the fight.

Students who were not part of the protest found themselves forced out of classes, the library and from their buses.

Public Order Police arrived to intervene and used stun grenades to disperse the crowd.

CPUT spokesman Thami Nkwanyana could not confirm if there had been any damage to property on Thursday. At the CPUT campus in Cape Town, lectures were suspended and students told to go home. Security kept a close watch.

The protest started on Monday when two students were arrested. They were released on Tuesday, when CPUT management held a meeting with the Student Representative Council (SRC) in an attempt to resolve the students’ grievances.

Several windows were smashed during the protest.

The students demanded that the university allow the registration of students who owed the institution money, Nkwanyana said.

“Given the historical background of the institution as one of the most accommodating in terms of low student registration and

tuition fees, it also has to be sustainable and operate optimally.

“The university council made an effort to arrest the accumulation of student debt.

“This has been done without excluding academically deserving students, but by introducing measures that specify the different

amounts, depending on the debt, that students should pay before they can register in line with rules of the National Credit Act,”

Nkwanyana said.

SRC deputy president Vuyani Moerane said students felt the university did not take students’ demands seriously.

They demanded, among other things, that students be allowed to register, irrespective of whether they had outstanding debt from last year, or whether they could afford to pay the registration fee.

[email protected]

[email protected]
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http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/cput-students-in-race-clash-1.1821223#.VObp2SzQhVc
 
Ok so you protest which is your right. But force your strike on people who don't want to part take?
 
Can confirm student here, was several meters from the main entrance when bricks were thrown with no remorse. Mostly african students. Was busy in one of the microbiology labs.

I felt angry about this because this meant I was in danger the second I entered my car. Waited it out and everything was fine. I was told that they were rejected by NSFAS for student loans and residence fees as their marks weren't up to scratch however I'm not totally sure of this statement.

They first blockaded the main gate, saw them harrass students and throw bricks at a truck driver.
Funny thing is though I noticed they allowed an african on his bicycle and black students in a car to pass through the crowd safely, even clapping for them as they passed along.
Some white student thought it was safe to push his scooter and not drive it through the crowd. He was not allowed to pass and pushed back.

I'm trying to be as objective as I can here and merely reporting on what I saw.

After being dispersed by security at around 15:30 I saw students run to the other exits with bricks while I was busy looking for a safe way to exit the campus.

It's hard not to be racist when people act like savages and put other people's lives in danger like this.

And no I am not white I am coloured.
 
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Welcome to Africa, here's your brick and race card.
 
Edelweiss said:
It's hard not to be racist when people act like savages and put other people's lives in danger like this.

And no I am not white I am coloured.
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LOL, its a pity I already have a classic quote in my sig otherwise I would have replaced it with this.
 
saturnz said:
LOL, its a pity I already have a classic quote in my sig otherwise I would have replaced it with this.
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Its not rocket science. If purple people constantly did something barbaric non-purple people soon will start generalizing and fearing the barbarians. Don't deny it.
 
I don't understand why institutions have to suffer when this is a mess up caused by NSFAS, I long for the day when politics leaves the education system alone.
 
IOL has become such a terrible news site, every other heading pushing a racism agenda..
 
I'd just drive thru them.

Put the car in 1st gear, rev the hell outta the engine and drop the clutch.

If they jump out the way, good for both parties. If not, bad for both parties.

Seriously, this pisses me off. They infringe on our basic right for education and security, they reinforce racial stereotypes that we're trying to eradicate and then hide behind the "I'm poor, so educate me for free" card? Everyone has to pay their dues. If they can't, they have to make a civil plan, not resort to this barbarity.

Disclaimer: 1st 3 sentences are a joke. No matter how tempting that would be, I'd not do that without very good reason.
 
KingMikel said:
I'd just drive thru them.

Put the car in 1st gear, rev the hell outta the engine and drop the clutch.

If they jump out the way, good for both parties. If not, bad for both parties.

Seriously, this pisses me off. They infringe on our basic right for education and security, they reinforce racial stereotypes that we're trying to eradicate and then hide behind the "I'm poor, so educate me for free" card? Everyone has to pay their dues. If they can't, they have to make a civil plan, not resort to this barbarity.

Disclaimer: 1st 3 sentences are a joke. No matter how tempting that would be, I'd not do that without very good reason.
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So bricks and such being thrown at you and being "locked" into an area with violent protesters wouldn't be classed as a good reason?
 
DA-LION-619 said:
I don't understand why institutions have to suffer when this is a mess up caused by NSFAS, I long for the day when politics leave the education system alone.
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Its easy to brainwash young people to self-destruction. This has been a tactic entrenched into the system for decades. Unfortunately, all these young students will eventually fail and become a bigger burden to society.
 
KingMikel said:
If I can avoid being in danger, I would. Otherwise I'd put foot thru them.
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Fair enough....

Its obviously all situational... but if i couldn't avoid being in danger, then i'd plow through them in a heartbeat.
 
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