The rapid escalation from pepper spray to rubber bullets raises the question: have police been trained to handle peaceful protesting? asks Theolin Tembo.
Cape Town - From the time the #RhodesMustFall movement quickly snowballed into the dramatic #FeesMustFall movement, numerous videos have been posted online focusing on how peaceful protesting students have been manhandled, teargassed and shot with rubber bullets by police.
This week’s #RUReferenceList protests at Rhodes University have again highlighted this.
Video footage of the Rhodes vice-chancellor begging for the release of a student having a panic attack in the back of a police van, was posted to YouTube on Wednesday.
The video shows police seemingly unaffected by the fact that someone is a panic attack. What if instead of having a panic attack the student started having a seizure and managed to get badly hurt themselves? The responsibility is on the police to act smarter than what they did when people are in their custody.
SAPS spokesperson in the Eastern Cape, Captain Mali Govender, says the police were only doing their job.
“At various entrances to Rhodes University campus in Grahamstown, the roads were blocked off using furniture , brooms , sticks and stones. Following warnings by the SAPS to disperse, the crowd did not adhere to the instructions. Attempts by the SAPS and the university's staff to unblock the road was met with resistance.
“The police then used pepper spray in an attempt to disperse the crowd. Shortly thereafter another report was received that a gathering was becoming aggressive when the universities staff attempted to clear off another street. The SAPS used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the crowd.”
The rapid escalation by police from pepper spray to rubber bullets raises the question: have police been trained to handle peaceful protesting?
When students are creating a barricade using their bodies, or just sitting down and obstructing the way, people often get frustrated, but is it completely valid to react to those situations with force?
According to Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut from the Western Cape SAPS offices, police only use violence as a last resort.
“Our operational members are fully trained to deal with any situation during protest actions, and the use of force is not lightly considered. Action to quell the violence during a protest action will be our last resort, and this will be dictated by the circumstances and the severity thereof.”
However, it does beg the question that maybe it isn’t the police that needs to be the focus of all this but instead the law, specifically the Gatherings Act, which gives SAPS the power to use force against peaceful protesters.
IOL MOJO