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Denosa slams attack on protesting student nurses

THE attack on student nurses who were "protesting peacefully" at the Western Cape College of Nursing must be investigated, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa said yesterday.

THE attack on student nurses who were "protesting peacefully" at the Western Cape College of Nursing must be investigated, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa said yesterday.

Denosa said the students' demands were justified and it was their democratic right to protest.

"The management of the Western Cape College of Nursing, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the Western Cape provincial government must urgently meet with the student leaders in order to address the issues raised, instead of cowardly deploying monsters to attack citizens who are genuinely exercising their democratic right," Denosa said in a statement.

Three student nurses were injured when police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets at the protesting students on Wednesday.

Police were called in to defuse the situation at the college when a standoff between students and security guards turned ugly. Students shattered windows, pelted the guards with stones and sprayed them with water from a fire hose, Inspector November Filander said on Wednesday.

Five security guards sustained minor injuries when the students attacked them. Nine nursing students were arrested and were expected to appear in the Athlone magistrate's court yesterday.

The students boycotted classes on Monday, calling on management and the Department of Health to revise the hours they worked during in-service training and for more supervision when they did their training. - Sapa

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