The University of Cape Town (UCT) on Tuesday condemned as “deplorable” the “violent and unlawful disruption” of a special meeting if its senate on Monday.
Media reports said the meeting was stormed by protesters during an address by vice-chancellor Dr Max Price.
A UCT statement said that the protesters had “particularly targeted…Price with utterly unacceptable verbal abuse and threw bottles‚ food and other articles at him” – and a fire extinguisher was “set off” in his face.
“They intimidated staff members‚ physically threatened people‚ racially abused people at random‚ humiliated individuals and generally acted in an unruly‚ aggressive manner that is completely unacceptable‚” it said.
“These actions are deplorable and in yesterday’s meeting they escalated to a level of aggression that everyone feels is intolerable and is to be condemned in the strongest terms.
“No engagement or negotiation is possible in such an environment. In fact‚ this behaviour threatens to reverse all the gains made by so many in the discussions on how to make UCT better and stronger in the future.”
The statement claimed the majority of the protesters involved are not from UCT.
UCT: Violent protest threatens to reverse all gains
Media reports said the meeting was stormed by protesters during an address by vice-chancellor Dr Max Price.
A UCT statement said that the protesters had “particularly targeted…Price with utterly unacceptable verbal abuse and threw bottles‚ food and other articles at him” – and a fire extinguisher was “set off” in his face.
“They intimidated staff members‚ physically threatened people‚ racially abused people at random‚ humiliated individuals and generally acted in an unruly‚ aggressive manner that is completely unacceptable‚” it said.
“These actions are deplorable and in yesterday’s meeting they escalated to a level of aggression that everyone feels is intolerable and is to be condemned in the strongest terms.
“No engagement or negotiation is possible in such an environment. In fact‚ this behaviour threatens to reverse all the gains made by so many in the discussions on how to make UCT better and stronger in the future.”
The statement claimed the majority of the protesters involved are not from UCT.
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