About 70 members of the National Union of South African Students (Nusas) marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria yesterday to protest against last month's banning of 18 organisations.
Dressed in academic gowns and led by Nusas president Steve Kromberg, the students marched 20 metres apart to avoid being accused of participating in an illegal gathering. Each student handed a petition to a high-ranking police officer at the foyer of the Union Buildings.
As the procession approached, policemen turned away journalists, saying it was a security area. The delegation represented residences, faculties, religious groups, clubs and societies. According to Kromberg, the protestors "constituted the largest and most representative grouping (of white students) to participate in a national protest" against the bannings.
At a news conference at the University of the Witwatersrand yesterday, reporters were told the delegation did not expect the government to heed the demands "as previous demands by the people of South Africa have been ignored". The conference heard, however, that "the presentation of demands will publicly announce that students from the English-language campuses and significant numbers of students from the Afrikaans campuses believe that the National Party's repressive measures offer no solution to the current conflict".
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
