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Tear gas fired outside the Cape Town school after the graduation party, allegedly hosted by the parents, attended by only white students and teachers.
South African police have fired tear gas at opposition activists protesting alleged racism at a Cape Town school after parents organized a so-called “whites only” end-of-the-year party outside the venue, allegedly by parents .
Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons on Friday at nearly 2,000 members of the radical left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who gathered near the school.
“The police threw tears, stun grenades and used water cannons to prevent protesters from approaching the school,” Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller reported from Cape Town.
The protesters dispersed and regrouped a few blocks away.
A man confronts the police during the protest outside Brackenfell High School in Cape Town. [Mike Hutchings/Reuters]
Miller said the protesters were “quite peaceful” and have accused police of being clumsy.
“They are also angry at the police and say they will not respond in the same way against the white protesters,” he said.
Police later told the protest organizers that only 100 people were allowed to march to the school.
The protests were the latest in a series of demonstrations against alleged racism at Brackenfell High School after the party, which was held at a winery farm in Stellenbosch, east of Cape Town, on October 17.
Ahead of the event, a flyer was shared on a dedicated WhatsApp group that included several teachers, black students at the school told local news website IOL. The flyer was not shared through the class’s regular WhatsApp groups, one student told IOL, saying it was clear that black students were destined to be excluded.
The school denies that the event was an official function and maintains that it was privately organized by the parents.
“The masked ball, known as a matrix farewell, was a private party hosted by the parents of those enrolled, and did not fall under the control of the school at all,” the school’s governing body wrote in a letter to parents, according to IOL.
“The function took place in a private place and not at the school, as certain reports claim. Therefore, the governing body and staff of Brackenfell High School distance themselves from any allegation that Brackenfell High School will tolerate or accommodate any event that is reserved exclusively for certain groups, and especially racial groups. “
A few days after the party, the EFF members tried to march to the school but were blocked by some of the students’ parents, leading to fist fights.
Widely shared video footage showed dramatic scenes of angry white parents beating up black EFF protesters in the streets on November 9.
The clash upset President Cyril Ramaphosa, who called for an investigation and described the clashes as “deeply regrettable”.
“The sight of parents and protesters arriving at the school gates is deeply unfortunate,” Ramaphosa said, adding that the development brought back “painful memories of a past to which we should never attempt to return.”
The clashes came a few weeks after protests with similar racial charges in the central agricultural town of Senekal over the brutal murder of a white farm manager by suspected black assailants.
Despite the end of apartheid a generation ago, racial tensions in South Africa often remain high.
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