The University of the Witwatersrand Student Representative Council (SRC) on Tuesday moved to distance itself from the violence that played out on the campus and the streets of Braamfontein a day earlier. A bus was torched and shops looted when students were dispersed by police after attacking private security personnel outside the Great Hall.“We believe that attributing these acts to students only furthers the attempt to delegitimise a noble and just cause‚” the SRC said in a statement.It noted that “in the four weeks of protest action at Wits University‚ there has been no incident of burning of any property by protesters”‚ and added that “not a single shop was looted or destroyed”.Instead‚ the SRC put the blame firmly for the chaos elsewhere: “We also know that violence only takes place when police and private security are on campus.“As students we have once again been brutalised at the university we call our own. And for what reason? All because we wanted to enter Solomon Mahlangu House‚ what has come to be the home of the #FeesMustFall protests at Wits‚” the statement said.It said the students “were greeted at the stairs of the Great Hall by a heavy police presence with police dogs and nyalas”.“Ironically‚ this was at the very place that we were told we could gather - the Piazza - where the first acts of police violence occurred this morning.”The statement made no mention of projectiles being thrown at security personnel by students‚ but instead continued with the claim that: “Students were subsequently hunted down around campus by police forcing many to escape onto the streets of Braamfontein.“The police then moved more tactical units onto the streets of Braamfontein putting school kids‚ shop owners and bystanders in grave danger.“This type of police brutality has become a daily reality for the students of Wits University‚ in our own home at the hands of our abusive father Professor Adam Habib.”On the damage caused off-campus‚ the SRC said: “It is of utmost importance that we firmly distance ourselves from the burning of the bus in Braamfontein and the damage caused to stores in the area. We are confident that it is not our students who were involved in these activities and we distance ourselves from these actions.“We believe that attributing these acts to students only furthers the attempt to delegitimise a noble and just cause.”The SRC also appealed to “students who are attending classes to listen to calls of thousands of their peers”.“What meaning will your university degree have when you get it by ignoring the plight of the poor and working class of this country? How can you sit comfortably in a lab whilst just a few steps away‚ students are being victimised and shot at for calling for free education?” – TMG Digital..