GALLERY: Outraged protesters cause havoc in Westdene
WESTDENE – The safety of Westdene residents was threatened after yet another protest.
A night vigil at the University of Johannesburg’s Kingsway campus got out of hand on 13 November. At around 11pm, protesters caused havoc in Westdene on Perth Road.
Manager of the Bohemian Pub, Guillaume Rossouw, said that he was aware of the vigil taking place near the entrance of the university, when barricades and fires broke out. He said that he could hear rubber bullets being fired. “Students fled from the police right to our area. They grabbed tyres from the tyre shop, Enume Tyres, next to the Bohemian Pub in Westdene,” said Rossouw. Leaders of the protest demanded that the pub be closed. “They told us that we should close and let our customers out in support of the protest. They aimed to get as much public support as possible in order to taunt the police,” he said. The protesters then set tyres as well as a bus stop alight.
According to Rossouw, he told the leaders that he will close on condition that there be no violence. “They however, threw petrol in our parking lot. I suspect that they would’ve set cars alight and stone cars passing by,” he said. They managed to get staff and customers out safely before the protesters could do anything serious to the Bohemian. Rossouw said that the pub supports the right for people to protest, but they do not support hooliganism and harming private property.”Friday evening we had to deal with the egos of young people fancying themselves as leaders, that saw the closure of a cultural event as a victory,” said Rossouw. He said that staff of the Bohemian, do not foresee anymore threats.
A member of the UJ FeesMustFall movement, Lidokuhle Xulu, said that he could confirm that it was not students of UJ who set the bus stop alight. “UJ FeesMustFall is an anti-violence movement, but after being provoked, protesters got angry. Members of the community could also support the protest so it’s not clear who was responsible for the damage,” said Xulu. According to him people express their anger in different ways. “There even were students who handed themselves in and asked police to arrest them, because every time we protest, the police want to shoot at innocent, peaceful protesters,” said Xulu.
Deputy Vice Chancellor of strategic services for UJ, Mpho Letlape, said that the protesting on Friday evening had no effect on the exams. “9970 students wrote exams across our university on Saturday,” said Letlape.
Police could not be reached on this matter. Warrant Officer TJ de Bruyn, spokesperson for Sophiatown Police said that the incident was not in their area and therefore he has no information on this matter.
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Students go on the rampage in Westdene
Details: The Bohemian, 011 482 1725.
