Cape Town – A stand-off between police and protesting students continued late on Tuesday night at the University of Cape Town (UCT) despite stun grenades being fired and private security being brought in.
At least two students were arrested and removed from Residence Road at UCT’s Upper Campus.
Read: Rhodes Must Fall group sets bins alight
The chaos ensued when protestors defied a request by the university management to vacate the road, the location of “Shackville” – a means of protest by the Road Must Fall (RMF) student movement.
The students erected a shack to protest what they called the institution’s discrimination against black students in placing them in accommodation.
The university management, who blame RMF for interfering with staff and operations on campus and further exacerbating the accomodation shortage, said last night the protest was disruptive to its operations and to traffic flow.
Read: UCT requests for ‘Shackville' to be relocated
The students were earlier given a 5pm deadline to move the shack to another location on campus, or it would be removed security.
Students defied that order and only at about 20h30 private security and police moved in to dismantle the shack, prompting the ensuing chaos which saw the protesting students taunting police officers.
They shouted “you only earn R6 000 a month”, your child can never come to the university”, “you only have six months knowledge of the law, and “you are doing a white man’s job”.
Police were overheard saying there were at least four incidents of crime reported on campus on Tuesday evening, including a bus and a bakkie being set alight and one burglary.
African News Agency
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