POLICE spokesperson Edwin Kanguatjivi yesterday said they had no choice but to use different means of minimum force to disperse a group of demonstrating students.
The deputy commissioner said this at a press conference to answer allegations that police had assaulted and taken into custody some of those who demonstrated on Wednesday.
The press conference came hours after the Namibia National Students’ Organisation (Nanso) held a press conference to register their disappointment in the ministry over the alleged assault of students at the demonstration.
Apart from accusing the police of assault, the student body claimed that some of the demonstrators were missing until yesterday afternoon.
The group marched to the Government Office Park to hand over a petition to higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi, with demands for tuition fee funding.
Nanso denied in a press statement the police’s claims that they had acted in a disorderly manner. They claimed that they were removed from the minister’s boardroom by armed officers from the Special Reserve Force, an action they deemed “humiliating, degrading and an insult to human dignity and personal integrity”.
The officers, according to Nanso, assaulted students outside the minister’s office, and allegedly confiscated some of their personal belongings.
“Many students who were assaulted were all kneeling down as a sign of respect to all law enforcement agencies, an indication of their willingness to engage and find amicable solutions to their grievances,” the statement read.
Kanguatjivi said no assault on students took place, and that officers applied minimal force to disperse the demonstrators after they allegedly blocked the road by sitting on it.
While he did not want to reveal what minimal force they used, Kanguatjivi said if the police used rubber bullets, it would still fall under minimum force as it does not result in grievous bodily harm.
He added that there were no arrests made as alleged by the students.
“Inasmuch as fundamental rights and freedoms are guaranteed, such freedoms should not infringe on the rights and freedoms of other citizens,” the spokesperson said.
He added that the police action would not have been necessary if students complied with the stipulations of the Public Gathering Act.
Activist Dimbulukeni Nauyoma told yesterday that he witnessed some of the assaults, saying it was uncalled for.
Although he could not provide names, Nauyoma claimed that some demonstrators were not accounted for, and they consider them missing.
“We had more than 200 students at the demonstration, but we only had more than 100 on the list afterwards, the others are unaccounted for,” he said.
He added that some students were injured, and that some are considering legal action.
Kanguatjivi said no cases of missing persons had been opened with the police yet. “When you are aggrieved, you can take action to either make a civil or criminal case,” the spokesperson said.
The demonstrators wanted the ministry to make funds available to NSFAF to pay student fees. Nanso vice president Bernard Kavau said they also wanted the fund to pay 100% tuition fees, and the N$21 600 non-tuition fee.
The Popular Democratic Movement in a statement yesterday said what the police did was tantamount to barbaric and brutal behaviour.
“These students did not pose any threat to the current peace and harmony as they never acted in a violent manner against the police or the ministry’s staff, which could have justified the action taken by the police,” read the statement issued by the party’s secretary general, Manuel Ngaringombe.
Ngaringombe asked the higher education minister to address the students’ grievances.
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