Volume 38 Number 07

Op maneuvresA 'Free Political Prisoners Rally'as planned bY Projects Comm, astrt of a national Nusas camPaign,rd BSS to take Place on TuesdaY) May. SADF raids into ANC3adquarters, in three Southernfrican capitals caused the natureI the rally to change. A Protestardng at 8.30 was cailed.From early on TuesdaY morningLudents began distributingamphlets and Posters. A tpproximately 8.45am, there was ararch by 3SS onto the librarYrwns. A fiery crowd of studentsathered on tie lawns to join theinging and the dancing. Within ahort time three riot police wereeen on the piazza in front of theireat HaIl. Students approachedrem singing and dancing. Theolice told students the meetingras illegal as it was outside andxpressed the desire to confiscatere'Release Mandela CamPaign'anner. Students dld not comPlYrith their demands and thenscorted them off campus.The crowd regathered on thetwns and continued singing.r'ithout a warning to disperse, riotolice appeared from the directionf the Great Hall,wieldingjamboks and batons. The crowdispersed, running in allirections, and uniformed andiain-clothes police (some wieldingatons) tore down posters andonfiscated bamers and pamphlets.'hey regrouped in the centre of thebrary lawns. Consultation tooklace between the ooiice andIt's oldnewsYesterday's police raid onstudent leaders. One student hadbeen taken into custody. Five riotpolicemen then broke awa! fromthe group and walked in thedirection of the Students' Union.As they approached the entrance,they broke into a run and chasedtwo male students, cornering themin tbe toilets. They sjambokkedthem and broke a mirror in theprocess. The police arrested Orem.After some conferring withstudent leaders and ProfessorShear, one squad left camPus.Students regrouped on the iibrarYlawns to discuss what to do next.Many sat down. Within a fewminutes, riot police charged themfrom two directions, trapping anumber of students at theWartenweiler Library. A dog wasset on a woman leaving the librarYand she was arrested. A number ofother students. were arrested. Anun protested at the anest of onestudent and managed to secure hisrelease.The police regrouped on thelawns while Dali Mpofu addressedstudents. Prof. Shear urgedstudents to follow their.leaders'inshuctions and warned'if theycontinued with their open-airmeeting, the police wouid usewhatever means necessary todisperse them. Dali told police thatuntil they left campus and releasedthe arrested students, no actionwould be taken.The police then left.Students moved towards thearcade. The SMA were confrontedat the enftance to the arcade wherethey had put up a display.Pamphlets and an SMA bannerwere burned.Dali and Chris Ngcoboaddressed the students in thearcade, after which everyonemarched to the Old Mutual SportsHall.The programme for the rallybegan. One of the released studentsaddressed the crowd, after him,Chris gave a brief history of thestruggle for freedom in SouthAfrica. Thandi Gqubule, vicepresidentof BSS, gave an accouatof symbols used in the struggle.Aubrey Mokoena, from ReleaseMandela Campaign, urged studentsto continue with the struggle.Claire Wright, SRC Presidentspoke of the need for whites toinvolve themselves in democraticorganisations, some of which existon campus.Nusas President Brendan Barryexplained to those present that theraised fist is a symbol of unity andstrength and should not bealienating to white students. He alsowarned that the governmentspromises of reform are empty onesand that this was proved by theraids into the frontline states.Other speakers were a memberof the Transvaal Indian Congress,Laurie Nathan of the E n dConscription Campaign andMurphy Morobe, a UDF execmember.Winnie Mandela was unable tospeak as she had been requested togo to Polsmoor Prison in CapeIown.The meeting ended with the:;inging of the national anthem -Nkosi Sikelel 'i Afrika, studentsleft the hall to the song 'FreeNelson Mandela' by the SpecialAKA, in high spirits.Students grouped around theSMA, requesting the six who werepresent, including Russell Crystal,to.leave campus forever. Riotpolice arrived on. the scene,.buttook no action.Some of the police wereqr.restioned about thei|attitude.One who had been in the riot squadfdr about fwo years said he enjoyedit because of the danger andexcitement involved. Anotherpoliceman, questioned about thebeating of students running awayfrorq the commotion, said thatsome poiicemen are vicious andenjoy that sort of thing. He deniedth;at it was something he had doneor approved of.Students dispersed after the SMAhad been escorted off campus bythe riot police.A picket of about 40'50 studentswas later held'on Jan Smuts andEmpire Roads. The response wasgenerally hostile and police arrivedwith a video camera. There was aconfrontation between a policemanand a shrdent who had attempted toprevent the policeman from takingphotographs of the demonstrators.The protest rally held on May 20 1986, was sparkedoff by the SADF raids into Botswana, Zambia andZimbabwe. This was in direct contravention ofinternational law and undermines the sovereignity ofthese states, The attacks were directed. at ANC bases,killing three and injuring an unknoC4. amount ofpeople, including three members" of the BotswanaDefence Force, Instead of waging war again.st ourneighbouring states, the government should beaddressing the real problems at the root of the conflictback home.A governmenL that talks the language of reform whilecarrying out such raids cannot be sincere about creatinga climate for a peaceful solution.The original reason for the rally yesterday, was toprotest against the detention of political prisoners. Thecombination of the two issues heightened the anger ofprotesting students. The reaction of these students topolice invasion of campus was th.erefore not surprising.The police, once again, denied the students the right toprotest peacefully. In invading campus, the policechanged what was a peaceful me€ting into a potentiallyexplosive situationWhile we recognise the right of the SMA to take astand, they were specifically requested to move theirdisplay elsewhere, because of the tense atmosphere, Byrefusing to do so they made themselves targets of theanger of protesting students.We uphold the rights of students to protest peacefully.It is important that we are aware of the political climatein which we find ourselves, in order to understand whythe events that took place yesterday could recur. Whitestudents should not alienate themselves from theseevents, and should rather try and understand themotivation behind them-"Voetsak SMA''Protest days at Wits areinevitably characterised by clashesbetween Azaso and the SMA.Yesterday SMA pamphlets wereburned by anti-SMA students andthe SMA shattered their cultivated