Johannesburg - Rubber bullets and tear gas were once again fired at protesting Wits university students, this time in the streets of Braamfontein on Monday afternoon.
Hundreds of students were seen running for cover in the busy streets, with passersby also being caught in the stand-off.
Hundreds of students took their plight to the streets after officers earlier fired rubber bullets, tear gas and a water cannon to disperse a group who were demanding entry into Solomon Mahlangu House where they wanted to hold a mass meeting.
When campus security refused, the students began pelting them with stones, causing police to step in.
The group then retaliated and hurled more rocks at security and the police and marched along Bertha Street and Jan Smuts Avenue, where they disrupted traffic and threw stones at passing motorists.
At least two students were seen being arrested prior to the clashes as protesters disrupted classes which had resumed in the morning after being suspended for a week.
This comes after two weeks of protests at Wits, with numerous students arrested and others injured.
The renewed #FeesMustFall protests follows Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande’s announcement last month that universities could make individual decisions whether to increase tuition fees for 2017, but should not exceed eight percent.
Wits university had resolved to open on Monday after classes were suspend for about two weeks as the academic programme was disrupted.
Earlier on Monday Vuyani Pambo, a member of the Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command (EFFSC), addressed the students, saying that they were waiting the Dean of Students to let them into the Great Hall.
Pambo said they had sent a message to the Dean to remove private security guards so that students could make their way to Solomon Mahlangu House.
“The security guards must not test us. They should let us in as they’ve been peaceful, with or without the police in campus,” Pambo said.
He also said that Wits was not a place to engage physically, but psychologically.
Pambo had tweeted in the morning, saying that they would not meet government officials were trying to set up meetings with protesting students if their demands for free education were not met.
“The state is following us and wants to coerce us to meeting with them. To meet them privately is to sell out. No private meetings. It’s 4am in the morning, the state through its spy has found us,” Pambo tweeted.
“We refuse to meet [President Jacob] Zuma or [Minister of Intelligence] [David} Mahlobo in private. Mass meeting resolved.”
Meanwhile, Wits Student Representative Council (SRC) member Fasiha Hassan confirmed that 11 students had been arrested for allegedly holding sticks and disrupting lectures.
“We have footage of a student being arrested for doing nothing, we have alerted our lawyers. The students have been sent to the Hillbrow police station,” Hassan said.
The University said in a statement over the weekend that students were allowed to protest, but only in specific, identified areas and that the University opposed the intimidation of staff or students or the disruption of academic activities.
Wits spokeswoman Sherona Patel said the computer labs in the FNB building of the university had been flooded.
“It is seen as deliberate to get people out of the labs. We are reviewing the video footage,” Patel said.
African News Agency and The Star