6 UCT protesters arrested

3 October 2016

Cape Town - Protesting UCT students say that six of their own were arrested inside a university building lined with private security guards on Monday.

The university confirmed that the six were arrested after disrupting lectures and had yet to be charged.

Western Cape police said the charges related to contravening a court order. No further details were immediately available.

Students wanted to enter the PD Hahn Building, but were met by guards dressed in grey camouflage and body armour.

A student leader addressing the crowd claimed the guards had received a call from the police to make the arrests.

She said the six were taken to Mowbray police station.

They were told that the guards were still protecting the building because it housed chemistry labs.

As she spoke, two vans filled with police officers stopped nearby.

Students started shouting and moving towards the vehicles.

They were told not to antagonise officers or guards.

They then moved to other parts of the campus to shut down lectures.

Guards apparently say there are no arrested students inside & are only guarding chemicals. Protesters want to check pic.twitter.com/Cf94KpVRuJ— Jenna Etheridge (@JennaEtheridge) October 3, 2016

This article first appeared on News24, see here.