DEMOCRACY works best when police know how to defend people’s rights, which is why the past few days on campuses have been a democratic setback.When a student minority demonstrated on campuses, police had two tasks: to make it possible for the majority to go about their business and to protect the right to peaceful protest. They have done neither. The universities are at a standstill despite evidence that most students want to attend class, and protesters have been beaten by police.The first couple of days of protest at Wits summed up what is wrong with the way protests have been handled by police and other security officials.On the first day, a few hundred protesters prevented everyone else from getting in and out. There is surely no more obvious role for public order policing than ensuring that people can go about their business — but, for hours, the entrances remained blocked. The next day, protesters trying to exercise their right to gather in a hall were stopped, prompting a vio...
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