Chaos As South African Police and Protesting Students Clash (photos)

Chaos started on Monday shortly as the university reopened after being closed last month because of protests against a planned increase in tuition fees.

Protesters moved through science and mathematics buildings, seeking to disrupt classes. Libraries and a large laboratory were empty. Later, there were tense exchanges.

Two police helicopters are hovering above the centre of University of Witwatersrand.

As police helicopters circled, some protesters spilled into city streets. A bus was set on fire, and thick smoke billowed into the air.


It all started out as a peaceful protest of students singing and chanting. They then started disrupting classes and threw stones and bottles at private security guards and police who retaliated with teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades.


Some students were seen vandalising the university. They are also growing impatient; they say a general assembly meeting which was due to be held last Friday to resolve their issues was cancelled without their knowledge.

The heavy police presence is an indication that both sides are digging their heels in and the situation is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.


This is the fourth week of protests sparked by a government proposal to raise tuition fees by up to 8% in 2017.

Wits had warned the entire academic year could be cancelled if classes did not resume.

A hardcore of 600 out of the 37,000 students at Wit University are "determined not to budge", BBC reported.

President Jacob Zuma ordered a freeze on tuition fees for a year after similar protests last year.

They have been the biggest student protests to hit the country since apartheid ended in 1994.

Police and student protesters also fought on a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, the African News Agency reported.

Unrest was reported at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein as well.