Two students were arrested earlier today (Tuesday) following arson and strikes that took place on the Wellington campus grounds of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).
The strike action was initially displays of songs and marching, while other allegations of more extreme behaviour was confirmed by various sources to the Paarl Post on scene. Incidents of arson, in which bushes and grass were set alight on the campus sport grounds, was reported around 12 noon.
Wellington police station commander, Col Johan Barkhuizen, confirmed that two students were detained and will remain so until they have made their appearance in court.
“This afternoon a group of students marched the streets to the police station demanding that the two arrested students be released. I explained to them that this is not possible and asked them to return to campus,” he said.
This incident is the latest action in relation to an ongoing strike of the past two weeks that has been coordinated by a large group of students residing on the CPUT campus in Kollege Street.
The overall strike action is as a result of lists of grievances and demands to various offerings and alleged management issues of CPUT. The list of issues include that of private ambulance and shuttle services, lack of campus security, Wifi-services and many other grievances.
The Paarl Post spoke to multiple students, both partial and impartial to the action, and will launch a full investigation to all said allegations regarding CPUT.
CPUT had not released any statements on their website or any social media platforms about the events by the time of publication.
Read the full story in the next newspaper edition.
