POLICING OF STUDENT PROTESTS

22 October 2015

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip once again expresses grave concern regarding the use of excessive force and poor policing associated with student protests both at Parliament yesterday and other parts of the country. We have once again witnessed disproportionate and unnecessary use of force by police against students at Parliament and at other places such as Rhodes University and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. As early as Tuesday this week, we spoke against the use of brute force during students protest following events at the Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch. The situation at Parliament, in particular, could have been avoided had the precincts of the institution been guarded properly by the police. It is common knowledge that in terms of the law protests may not take place inside Parliament - hence all protests at Parliament take place by the entrance of Parliament. The police laxity regarding the manning of parliament gates ended with the unnecessarily chaotic situation of students storming the precincts, catching the police back footed and resorting to use of stun grenades. The situation that played out was thus completely unnecessary and could have been avoided.

Parliament is an institution of the people that is open and welcoming to all South Africans, including the protesting students. We will therefore never agree with any reaction that suggest students are enemies for merely persuing such a just and courageous cause.

The students' legitimate and valid protests for access to education have been relatively peaceful, and we thus reject any heavy handed use of force, including arrests, to quell them. We call for the immediate release of all arrested students and the unconditional dropping of all charges against them.

We once again appeal to the police to act with restraint in the policing of these peaceful student protests, which we support in line with our policy on accessible quality education for all.

Statement issued by the Office of the Chief Whip, ANC, 22 October 2015