WATCH | Pupils hold teachers and cops hostage over schoolmate’s ‘suicide’

Police officers and teachers were held hostage at a school in the Free State after a schoolmate allegedly committed suicide after being bullied by a teacher.

The incident happened in the Maqheleng area in Ficksburg where pupils from surrounding schools converged on Tlotlisong Secondary School on Thursday.

“Police officers were called to the scene but the pupils turned to violence. They held two police officers and teachers hostage inside the school,” said police spokesperson Warrant Officer Peter Mabizela.

“It is reported that the child left a suicide note to say what caused the death and then the learners at the school picketed and it became violent,” he told TimesLIVE.

The pupils overturned a police vehicle which prompted the call for three more police vehicles to the scene, which the pupils pelted with stones, Mabizela said.

“The station commander sent more units to the scene and they were able to disperse the pupils,” he said. 

Five minors were arrested for public violence and will appear in court soon after consulting social workers.

“The procedures for children are different but they will eventually appear in court,” Mabizela said, suggesting the children may have been released into their parents' care.

TimesLIVE 

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