Free State police are investigating a case of public violence after pupils from a Ficksburg school went on a destructive riot targeting educators over the death of a learner.
Ficksburg school riots: Here’s what caused the uproar
On Thursday, social media was flooded with footage showing a large group of pupils in school uniform, crowding a staff parking lot and overturning several vehicles belonging to teachers and the police.
Gob-smacked students who were not part of the Ficksburg school riots watched in horror as their peers attacked a police van summoned to restore calm at Tlotlisong High School.
In a statement, Free State police spokesperson Warrant Officer Mmako Mophiring confirmed that three more police vans were dispatched to the riots and they too were overturned by the enraged pupils.
According to WO Mophiring, the chaos was prompted by the suspicious death of a pupil who, based on preliminary findings, “allegedly drank poison and was found dead at his home by his grandmother.”
Bizarrely, Tlotlisong High School pupils laid the blame for the learner’s death squarely on several teachers and, on Thursday, the rioters turned up to class with every intention to disrupt the day’s learning.
Despite the violence, Ficksburg police managed to avert injuries, albeit one student who was not part of the riots “was hit by a stone on the head.”
While camera footage showing the pupils who were involved in the Fickburg school riots is easily accessible on the internet, police have yet to identify the culprits and make arrests.
A day after the riots, normalcy returned to Tlotlisong High but “police are [still] monitoring the school and surroundings.”
Moreover, the death of the pupil has, thus far, not been treated as a homicide and an inquest docket remains open.
Here’s footage of the Ficksburg school riots that went viral on social media:
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