South African police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas at student protesters in Johannesburg yesterday as authorities tried to reopen the prestigious Wits University after weeks of demonstrations.
The university, along with many campuses across South Africa, has been closed for at least two weeks during protests over tuition fees, with violent clashes regularly erupting between students, police and private security guards.
“There has been an attempt to disrupt lectures at Wits today,” the university said in a statement.
“Police are dispersing the protesting students as we speak using teargas and stun grenades.”
University authorities had vowed to reopen the campus yesterday, with vice-chancellor Adam Habib warning of the “immense consequences of not finishing the academic year.”
He said most students wanted to return to lectures, adding that police and security staff would ensure lectures would go ahead, and no mass protests would be allowed to gather.
“Following yesterday’s harassment of our staff, we have no choice but to deploy police around campus,” said university spokeswoman Shirona Patel.
She said the university, which shut down during the earlier protests, had reopened on Monday, but some students had forced some of the lecturers out of their offices.
“The university wants to arrest us, instead of listening to us,” said 21-year-old Patrick Shabalala, a third-year law student, amid repeated clashes outside Wits’ Great Hall auditorium.
“We are not criminals. We want to study and not end up paying endless students loans from the government. That is why we are striking.”
As police opened fire and protesters threw rocks, television footage showed several minor injuries to students and police.
Campuses nationwide including the University of Cape Town, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Pretoria have all been hit by violence, arson and closures.
The wave of protests was triggered by a government announcement that universities would set their own fee increases but that next year’s hikes could be as high as 8%.
“The struggle continues, not only here at Wits but across the country,” said Phelokazi Caluza, 19, a first-year chemical engineering student.
“Students are angry at the government, the governments responds by unleashing cops on us.
“Exams are around the corner but if we don’t fight, we will be facing the same problems next year.”
Unrest has hit many South African universities over the past year, as students have protested against fee increases that they say force poorer, often black, pupils out of education.
Last year, students - many of them so-called “born frees” who grew up after apartheid - staged a series of huge demonstrations which forced the government to abandon planned fee hikes for 2016.
“We do not agree with those who say that universities should be shut down,” President Jacob Zuma said on Monday, while vowing to listen to students’ concerns and help those from poorer families.