[imagesource: Twitter / @supermaan0430]

Finishing high school is worth celebrating.

When you have huge numbers of teenagers drinking heavily, though, things can sometimes turn violent.

On Friday, end-of-the-academic-year celebrations descended into anarchy and chaos at Clifton Fourth Beach, with multiple videos showing a number of brutal attacks on an individual.

It wasn’t long before rumours that the person attacked had died began to circulate on social media, but that is not the case.

Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut confirmed to News24 that “no murder was reported”, adding that the individual assaulted “refused to lodge an official complaint”.

JP Smith, the City of Cape Town’s (COCT) Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, said that the assaulted individual also refused medical assistance from officers.

City law enforcement spokesperson Wayne Dyason said a large group of students were at Clifton and Camps Bay beaches for celebrations.

“Officers had their hands full controlling the crowd. Three suspects were arrested,” he added.

One person was arrested for encouraging people to urinate in public (fun charge to explain to your parents), and another for “riotous behaviour, assaulting an officer and malicious damage to property”.

The third arrest took place on Victoria Road, where a man “was caught red-handed by officers jumping out of a taxi and removing the wheel trims of stationary vehicles and then jumping back into the taxi”.

At first, the scenes resembled the usual end-of-year celebrations:

Lekker ne! Valedictory Party at Clifton pic.twitter.com/eWnhFKF7cN

— Tashreeq Truebody (@Truebz) October 1, 2021

However, the footage of the attack is pretty full on:

(Not for sensitive viewers)
Clifton Beach incident pic.twitter.com/MkzKRusmjF

— BYROooooooooooooooooN📢 (@lukas_byron) October 2, 2021

pic.twitter.com/ZDGKEr1eBZ

— maanie paanie (@supermaan0430) October 1, 2021

I can recall brawls breaking out on my valedictory day, but there weren’t camera phones at every turn.

Cape Town Ward 54 councillor Nicola Jowell released this statement on Facebook:

Throw together thousands of students, copious amounts of liquor, and the excitement of finishing your academic year, and there’s always going to be trouble.

[source:news24]