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Public Violence Case Opened After Protests At CPUT’s Bellville Campus

FILE: The Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Picture: EWN.

CAPE TOWN – Police are investigating a case of public violence following sporadic protests at Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s (CPUT) Bellville campus.

Over the past two days, demonstrators removed students from their lecture rooms and the library reportedly telling them they wouldn’t allow classes to continue until their grievances were heard.

The police’s Frederick van Wyk said officers arrived at the institution on Tuesday to find about 3,000 students gathered outside the student centre.

“Student then started to throw stones towards the windows of the engineering building, cars on the parking lot and security officers. Seventeen vehicles and several windows of the building on the campus were damaged. Our members will remain in the area to monitor the situation,” he said.

CPUT’s Lauren Kansley said they understood the protests were linked to residence and campus catering issues.

“It must be stated that CPUT has a surplus of residents’ beds and we don’t believe this reasoning to be a true reflection of the real motivation behind the protest. With regards to campus catering, we are currently remodelling our entire foodservice across campuses and students are currently being catered for with food trucks,” she said.

EWN

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