University of the Witwatersrand deputy vice-chancellor Tawana Kupe on Friday made a plea for peace on campus‚ a day after protesters accused police of heavy-handed tactics. The Student Representative Council (SRC) called for a mass meeting outside the Great Hall on Friday morning‚ after at least four students had to be treated for rubber bullet wounds on Thursday.Among them was former SRC president Shaeera Kalla‚ who claimed to have been shot up to 13 times in the back at close range and was hospitalised overnight.Kupe agreed‚ while talking to Radio 702 on Friday morning‚ that the shootings were unfortunate‚ but said it had to be understood against a background of violent protests on the campus. “If you have a general context where there is violence‚ unfortunate incidents and dangerous incidents will happen‚ that is why we have been pleading with everyone to say‚ ‘Let’s remove the violent element.’“That’s why we went to the church‚ let’s have peace‚” he said.The was a reference to the peace accord meeting at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Wednesday‚ at which Kupe and a Wits management delegation left after students directed their anger‚ “in the sacred chambers”‚ at vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib.The disruption prompted Father Russell Pollitt from the Society of Jesus in South Africa to say that this “safe and neutral space has been violated by those who declared God’s house to be exclusively theirs” and thus “Trinity is regrettably no longer available as a venue for meeting”.Kupe said there would be no violence if there were no disruptions on campus.“Let’s take out the causative effect: any violence by anybody in deplorable‚” he said.“In the context of peace and peaceful protest‚ and no violence at all‚ no disruption of classes and teaching and learning‚ what don’t you have? You don’t have police with rubber bullets and stun guns.“You have only have minds engaging each other on the issues of the day.” – TMG Digital ..