Durban - Police and students engaged in running battles at the Westville campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Monday, resulting in the closure of the campus.
Protests at the university’s Howard College campus in Durban also resulted in that campus being closed.
The day began with a stand-off between students and university security, but erupted in violence when students started charging security after police withdrew.
The students, numbering well over a thousand, stormed a security vehicle at the quadrangle on campus and overturned a security vehicle after the four security personnel fled, abandoning it.
Police returned and battles started taking place in the university residences just below the main university campus.
Students threw rocks and other objects, including ironing boards, tables and chairs, while police responded with rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas.
At one stage police, who were severely outnumbered could be head screaming for more rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas.
Three police officers almost found themselves overrun by a group of students who used a table as cover against the rubber bullets.
The size of the crowds of students varied and they attacked police from different angles. As police responded to one threat from one direction they found themselves on the receiving end of stones, bottles and other missiles from behind, the side or above from windows.
In one instance, police threw teargas into a building to flush out students, but administrative staff found themselves fleeing the building to get away from the teargas.
Fridges were dragged out to be used as shields, while fire extinguishers were also deployed by the students, a number of whom masked their faces.
Several ironing boards were used as effective shields buy the students. Those that were at the core of the protests wore T-shirts from the South African Students Congress (Sasco), while others wore African National Congress (ANC) T-shirts emblazoned with President Jacob Zuma’s portrait on it.
One police officer was injured when a bottle struck him on the arm and he was taken away by paramedics.
One woman shouted from the residence to the police officers below: “Stop shooting our boyfriends!”
A fire was also started in the toilets of the students’ union building, while fire hoses were also opened by protesting students. The fire was immediately dowsed.
The eThekwini fire brigade was on standby throughout Monday.
Roads throughout the campus were littered with debris. At least four fridges from the residences were lying broken beyond repair outside the residences.
It was not immediately clear how many arrests, if any, had been made but police brought in more officers and by mid afternoon the situation had quietened.
By midday the university announced that the academic programme at the Westville campus had been suspended until further notice.
In a statement issued on Monday midday, university spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said: “In an effort to restore calm on the Westville Campus, all academic activities have been suspended for Monday with immediate effect. The suspension is for Monday and is until further notice. It is hoped that during this period we will be able to locate and arrest those individuals that are perpetuating violence on the campus.”
Later he confirmed that the academic programme at the university’s Howard College campus had also been suspended until further notice. It was not immediately known what had transpired at that campus. It was understood, however, police there had also used stun grenades, teargas and rubber bullets to disperse stone throwing students.
African News Agency