Rubber bullets fired at University of WC

Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades and deployed a water cannon after students at the University of the Western Cape staged a protest late on Thursday night.

Members of the public order policing unit were set to monitor the situation at the UWC campus near Bellville overnight after students clashed with officers.

Police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo confirmed officers had to deploy a water cannon, fire rubber bullets and stun grenades at students protesting fee increases, after they burnt tyres and blockaded the busy Robert Sobukwe Drive (formerly Modderdam Road).

“They burnt tyres, damaged roads, and they damaged at least two police vehicles,” Naidoo said.

Naidoo said there were no reports of injuries or arrests.

Near the University of the Free State campus, Naidoo said 15 students were arrested.

“They were arrested on charges in terms of the gatherings act and road traffic act,” said Naidoo.

Another two students were arrested at the University of Fort Hare’s Alice campus in the Eastern Cape.

Thousands of South African students have taken to the streets in protest over plans to increase university fees for next year.

The protests, which originally started at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg last week when management announced a fee increment of 10.5 percent, have since spread to other tertiary institutions around the country where classes and exams have ground to a halt.

Students protesters burst into the parliamentary grounds in Cape Town on Wednesday during South African Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s medium-term budget speech before they were driven out by police who resorted to firing stun grenades to disperse the protesters.

(File photo: Gallo Images)