Sixteen protesters were arrested under the Gatherings Act for interfering with traffic while illegally protesting against Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Monday night.
Several protesters and journalists were injured and three policemen were wounded during the demonstration outside the University of the Witwatersrand’s (Wits) Educational Campus — formerly the Johannesburg College of Education — and outside the Hillbrow police station.
The activists were protesting against the presence of Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in South Africa. They afterwards marched on the Hillbrow police station to demand the release of Salim Vally.
Vally, a leading member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee and acting director of Wits’ Education Policy Unit, was arrested after attempting to force his way into the campus’ Linder Auditorium where Peres was to address invited members of the country’s Jewish community.
Peres is in South Africa to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Police representative Director Henriette Bester said Vally was arrested after an altercation with a VIP protection unit member. The unit was responsible for securing the venue and had declared it a restricted area accessible only to invited guests. Vally did not have an invitation.
A statement in his support alleged he was arrested in the entrance to the campus on his way to a meeting inside with academics from Sussex University.
”Vally has been charged with trespassing — for trying to enter his own office. He has been beaten by police, his shirt is torn and he has visible injuries. He is being denied access to medical attention and has not been allowed to use the toilet,” the statement said.
According to a police statement, he will appear in court shortly and would be charged with trespass, assault and crimen injuria.
Earlier, protesters were subjected to a police water cannon when they blocked the intersection of the nearby St Andrews and Queens roads during peak hour and despite three warnings refused to move.
A phalanx of police then moved them out of the way and prevented them from reoccupying the road.
Police said they had acted with a minimum of force in the face of severe, prolonged provocation.
Bester said that neither tear nor pepper gas were used by police.
Several statements issued by pro-Palestinians alleged the contrary.
Once cleared off the road, the protesters, bearing banners and placards reading ”Sharon is a terrorist,” ”Zionism is racism” and ”Free Palestine!” staged a picket.
As the audience left the campus after hearing Peres, the demonstrators attempted to pelt glass bottles and stones at them. A Sapa reporter at the scene said protesters also stabbed a policeman in a leg. Although not seriously wounded, he was taken to hospital for treatment.
A cameraman from Al-Jazeera television news had a bloody head and another from the Associated Press was seen bleeding from the mouth.
A woman was knocked over by the water jet and was taken away from the scene in an ambulance.
Police said a man was injured in a fall near the JCE and a 14-year-old boy was also hurt near the police station.
Bester said police again used water cannon to clear an intersection near the station when protesters refused to let traffic pass — despite numerous warnings.
When the crowd responded by hurling stones at police, rubber bullets and stun grenades were used to disperse them. In the fracas two policemen were injured by stones and a police vehicle was also damaged. The 16 arrests then followed.
According to a Sapa reporter at the police station five of the detainees were juveniles.
SA Human Rights Commissioner Jody Kollapen was also on the scene to monitor developments.
Meanwhile, the pro-free speech Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) slammed the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and the authorities for hosting the event.
”Having rolled out the political red-carpet for the Zionist state’s litany of ‘regrets’ for genocide, the attendant repression of Palestinian solidarity is now being meted out by the African National Congress government.
”Whatever democracy and the constitutional right to freedom of expression may mean has clearly been limited to the interests of South African captains of industry,” the FXI said in the statement.
In a later statement the FXI said two members of its executive committee Ahmed Veriava and Naeem Jeenah were ”reportedly” also injured.
It added that Vally was a former FXI chairman and a current executive member.
In its statement, the Social Movements Indaba, which has been behind much of the protests surrounding, the WSSD called the police’s handling of the event ”outrageous”.
The SMI demanded that all members of the police responsible for ”beating and shooting” what it called ”peaceful demonstrators” be immediately arrested.
The SMI also said Veriava, ”was shot three times in the hand and was rushed to Brenthurst Clinic.”
SMI affiliate, the Palestinian Solidarity Group, of which Vally is also a member, said in a statement it had organised the protests.
”When the marchers were dispersing, the police opened fire with rubber bullets. One IndyMedia South Africa member was injured — his finger was broken.”
The SA National Non-Governmental Organisation Coalition (Sangoco) also condemned the ”South African state attack on anti-Zionist protesters”.
”The WSSD in Johannesburg has seen repeated human rights violations by the South African government,” it said, adding that according to its tally six protesters were hospitalised.
Commenting on events in Hillbrow, Sangoco said it had access to video footage showing protesters seated in an act of passive resistance at the time that the police opened fire with water cannons and rubber bullets.
The event at Wits was a private function organised by the SAJBD and the SA Zionist Federation (SAZF).
The protest was unauthorised as it had not been approved by Johannesburg’s mayor in terms of the Gatherings Act. In a statement released at the venue, the SAJBD and SAZF’s media response team, the two bodies ”absolved” Wits ”totally from any responsibility vis-Ã -vis the safety and security of members of the audience and the media”.
In its statement, the Wits said it ”regretted” that the joint organisers of the lecture did not follow the normal booking procedures.
”The university was mislead into believing that this was a normal public lecture. As a consequence of arrangements made by the organisers, the university found itself in the unenviable position of not knowing about the event until it was too late to influence the planning,” the institution said. – Sapa