One of South Africa’s top universities has descended into violence, with police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon at stone-throwing students who are locked in a bitter national dispute with administrators and the government over demonstrators’ demands for free education.
On Monday, stun grenades boomed and gunshots crackled as police cleared protesters from a main plaza at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the most prominent site of a student movement that recently shut other universities and prompted official warnings that badly needed medics, engineers and other skilled workers might not be able to graduate this year.
“Hell broke out,” said Jo Seoka, an Anglican bishop, who joined an earlier student march, added police had “militarised” the campus, and he criticised them for not wearing IDs on their uniforms that would make them accountable.
As police helicopters circled, some protesters spilled into city streets. A bus was set on fire, and thick smoke billowed into the air.
The university, also known as Wits, accused students of throwing rocks “that could have maimed or killed people” and said protesters had responded to negotiation offers from the campus administration with threats.
At least two people were arrested and some minor injuries were reported, the university said.
Education Minister Blade Nzimande appealed for dialogue and condemned the violence, saying the university’s efforts to run its academic program were being “held at ransom by irresponsible and disrespectful striking students”.
Large student protests in 2015 forced the government to freeze fee increases this year, but demonstrations started again a few weeks ago when the state recommended that universities increase fees by no more than eight per cent next year.
While the government also said it will cover 2017 fee increases for poor students despite funding challenges, protesters argue that the country must address economic inequities in the education system that date from the country’s former system of white racist rule known as apartheid.
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