<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-headline">South Africa: Police Vehicle Petrol-Bombed in Hoërskool Overvaal Protests</h1>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Protests
continued for a second day outside Hoërskool Overvaal in Vereeniging on
Thursday. Demonstrators persisted with their demand for the school to
scrap its Afrikaans-only language policy which they claim is used to
exclude black learners.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Learners arriving
for school in the morning had to walk pass heavily armed riot police who
kept watch outside the main entrance as protesters mobilised down the
road. Dozens of parents decided to wait outside the school instead of
leaving, saying that they were looking out to ensure that no harm came
to the children inside the school.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">A parent of a grade
8 learner said her son had just started high school and insisted that
he attend class today despite the disruptions outside the gates. "My son
was a bit concerned about the violence but he said that he wasn't
afraid to go to school. He wants to learn and we are very happy with the
way the school has treated us as parents as they have assured us that
security is in place to keep our kids safe," said the mother.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">A grandparent of
another learner said that he was unhappy with the way the police handled
the situation yesterday. "Why do they let them toyi-toyi outside the
main gate and burn tyres? Why don't the police block the guys from
coming into this street? The police are useless," said the man.</p>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Down the road from
the main entrance taxis started arriving carrying more protesters, many
of whom were wearing Congress of South African Students T-shirts. They
began marching towards the other end of the road where many of the
parents had gathered. Separated by police tape, the opposing groups
began hurling insults at one another and had to be separated by riot
police as the situation became increasingly tense. From inside the
school teachers and staff could be seen filming the altercations with
their phones. Some learners looked on from the balconies.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Some protesters
attempted to set tyres on fire but they were stopped by protest leaders
who said that they did not want a repeat of yesterday's violence. Others
moved to barricade the main road running next to the school. A local
resident was almost stoned by the mob as he attempted to remove the
barricade so his car could pass. Police were quick to respond to all
flare-ups and moved to calm the situation.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Later in the day,
after the learners had been picked up by their parents, a police vehicle
was hit by a petrol bomb. A riot policeman extinguished the fire as his
colleagues began making mass arrests. Most of the protesters were made
to lie on the ground and they were then ushered into the back of a Nyala
and another police van. About 30 people were arrested and taken away by
the police.</p>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text">"I'm not sure why
they arrested all those boys. We just saw people running and so we also
started running. They pointed their guns at us and said that we should
lie on the ground and they took all the young boys and put them in the
police cars," said a protester who identified herself as Pinky.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Shaka Radebe, a
local ANC leader, said that most of the protesters who were arrested
yesterday had been released on bail. He also said that some of the
parents wanted to meet with an ANC delegation to discuss the way
forward. "We want to meet and discuss if we can meet each other half
way. If there is common ground we can proceed to meet with school
management," said Radebe.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">Gauteng Education
MEC Panyaza Lesufi said that the issues must be resolved as a matter of
urgency as no child should go to school in fear of rubber bullets and
teargas.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text">A member of the
School Governing Board said he was instructed not to speak to the media,
so unfortunately we can't give comment from the school.</p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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