Pupils rampage in CBD One person confirmed dead Ntombi Nkosi, The New Age, Johannesburg, 31 July 2014 Thousands of pupils ran amok in the Johannesburg CBD, attacking vendors and forcing shops to shut during a chaotic protest yesterday [Wednesday, 30 July 2014]. A large contingent of public order police moved in to control the demonstrators who were protesting over lack of study materials. Four pupils sustained injuries during a scuffle with shop owners whose businesses were looted during the protest metro police said. "Four male pupils assaulted by shopkeepers, who retaliated (to looting), were taken to hospital," metro police spokesperson Chief Supt Wayne Minnaar said. A large group of pupils began protesting in Albertina Sisulu and Eloff streets around 2pm, Minnaar said. They looted shops and picked up hawkers' stands and threw them to the ground, he said. The majority of the group was standing in front of the education department building. Minnaar said there had been reports of two other groups of pupils protesting in Hillbrow and Fordsburg. He could not confirm if the three groups were linked to each other. The pupils were dressed in different uniforms. The pupils were led by the Congress of South African Students (COSAS). Grade 8 pupil, Sibusiso Tshabalala, 13, from Empilweni High School in the east rand was one of the unlucky ones who got injured. He was caught in between. Retaliating vendors allegedly hit him with a sharp object leaving a deep gash to his head and bruised mouth. "I am innocent, I did not steal from the street vendors, I came here for the COSAS march," Tshabalala said. Another pupil, Keikantseng Mochibidi from Molestane High School in Soweto said: "There were pupils who were arrested last week, the reason for the march is that we want them to be released." Joburg police spokesperson, WO Xoli Mbele confirmed that the protest was full of criminal elements. "One person was confirmed dead, it is not known why the pupils went on a rampage. Most of them looted clothing stores, vendor stalls and food outlet," Mbele said. No arrests had been made yet, police would investigate a case of murder and malicious damage to property. [email protected] Additional reporting by Sapa From: http://www.thenewage.co.za/133359-1009-53-Pupils_rampage_in_CBD -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
