Johannesburg - Protesting students at the University of Witswatersrand (Wits) have once again clashed with the police as their protest for free education turned violent at around midday on Tuesday.
This comes after clashes broke out at Wits on Monday and spilling out to Braamfontein after students pelted private security guards with stones at the main campus.
A bus was torched and a Puma shop stoned and looted in Braamfontein.
The students have been protesting for about three weeks now demanding free education under the campaign #FeesMustFall. Their protest began after Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, announced on September 19, that universities could decide on their own whether to hike the fees for 2017, but should not exceed eight percent.
Tuesday, began peacefully at the Braamfontein main campus of the university as classes resumed, with students looking keen to catch up on their academic work and clean-up operations well underway. There was a heavy police presence and security guards detail protecting the property of the university and ensuring that teaching and learning progressed unhindered.
At around 9:20am, a few students began to group outside the steps of the Great Hall, singing and chanting struggle songs. Police officers then requested the students to send a three-member delegation to negotiate with them on how to conduct their protest.
After about half an hour, student leaders reported back to their fellow students and got instructions that the police should leave the campus if they wanted the protest to not turn violent. But the police rejected this proposal, saying that they were on campus to keep safety and security and not to fight students.
All these meetings were closed to the media, with students instructing journalists to keep a distance from their gathering.
Around 11:30, #FeesMustFall leaders including former Wits SRC president, Mcebo Dlamini, and Economic Freedom Fighters' Student Command member, Vuyani Pambo, were seen gathering the students around after the chanting had dissipated. A large group of about 200 students then moved onto the university's lecture halls, removing students who were in the middle of their studies. Police also began to form a tactical response, and moved in to check the situation around the campus all the way to Gate E. When the police returned in front of the Great Hall, students had broken down the concrete litter bins to arm themselves. A confrontation ensued, and police started firing stun grenades after students pelted them with stones.
This led to about an hour of running battles between police and students around the library lawns as police pushed the students back as far as the East Campus with a water cannon and rubber bullets. Non-protesting students ran away in different directions when bullets went off.
Students affiliated to #TakeWitsBack, those who are against the disruption of classes, said they would hold a media briefing later in the day. But students returned and vandalised windows of The Matrix building where they harvested a few shields to protest themselves.
By 2:30pm, sporadic throwing of stones and firing of stun grenades was still continuing on the campus with no injuries being reported yet.
Meanwhile, a group of about six students also tried to disrupt a lecture on the Wits Education Campus in Parktown, but security stepped in and they ran away.
A group of students also tried to close the entrance to the Wits Management Campus but and dispersed when security and the police intervened. One student was reportedly arrested in that campus. Wits spokesperson, Shirona Patel, said the University was committed to completing the 2016 academic year and to ensuring that all students write examinations. “We are doing our level best to ensure that lectures continue without disruption today (Tuesday). We also request staff and students to stay away from areas of conflict for their own safety,” Patel said in a statement.
African News Agency