PRESS RELEASE

Police brutality and racism against demonstration in support of Palestine at Wits University

Supporters marching to Hillbrow Police Station (in solidarity with arrested demonstrator) attacked without warning by police with batons, rubber bullets and stun grenades one shot, several demonstrators beaten & injured, eighteen arrested

Earlier this evening (Monday 2nd September) the real face of the new South Africa bared itself for all to see. After learning that Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, was scheduled to speak at Linder Auditorium on the Wits University Educational Campus (formerly Johannesburg College of Education) at 6pm, several members of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (an affiliate of the SMI) arrived at the campus to attend the address.

One of those members, Salim Valley (an Education Policy Unit employee at Wits University) was on his way to his office to meet a fellow academic (Dr. Said from Sussex University) when he was accosted by self-styled security of the Jewish Board of Deputies, along with members of the police force and forcibly removed from the campus. When he protested that he had every right, as a Wits employee, to be there, the police arrested him and dragged him off to Hillbrow Police Sation where he was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. Several others, most of whom were all Wits University students, who had made their way into the auditorium were asked if they belonged to any organisation by the same security and police personnel and then were physically dragged out of the building. All black individuals were specifically targeted, as were individuals with scarves.

Upon hearing of this incident, several hundred supporters of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee, including members of the Anti-Privatisation Forum, arrived at the entrance to the campus where a spontaneous demonstration began. Police then used water cannons, batons and pepper spray to try and disperse the demonstrators. Several were injured in the onslaught, including an elderly woman who had to be taken to hospital. There ensued a standoff between demonstrators and the police for 2 hours in front of the campus on St. Andrews Drive.

By 8:30pm, about 250 of the demonstrators decided to march to Hillbrow Police Station to demand the release of Salim Valley. As they were approaching the station, police opened up on the crowd with water cannons, batons and rubber bullets. One demonstrator, Ahmed Veriava, was shot three times in the hand and was rushed to Brenthurst Clinic (he has since been moved elsewhere due to police round-ups in the area). Many demonstrators were cornered and beaten severely. A total of eighteen demonstrators were arrested. Four of these were subsequently released since they were injured and needed medical attention.

The events of this evening are completely outrageous. The actions of the police have taken us back to the days of apartheid. Now we have faculty and students being thrown off their own campus due to their ethnic origin and/or skin colour. Now we have police firing rubber bullets and beating up peaceful demonstrators. Now we have a government that tells the people one thing and does another, all the while claiming the moral high ground and legitimating its actions, regardless of the hypocrisy and lies.

The SMI demands that all members of the police responsible for beating and shooting peaceful demonstrators be immediately arrested (several demonstrators have already provided statements to the Independent Complaints Directorate). These are the real criminals . The SMI also demands the immediate release of Salim Valley and all other arrested demonstrators. We will not rest until justice is done.

For further information contact: Dale McKinley on 072 429-4086