Students, police clash in bitter campus battle

South African police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas at student protesters in Johannesburg on Tuesday as authorities tried to re-open the prestigious Wits University after weeks of demonstrations. The university, along with many campuses across South Africa, has been closed for at least two weeks during protests over tuition fees, with violent clashes […]

South African police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas at student protesters in Johannesburg on Tuesday as authorities tried to re-open the prestigious Wits University after weeks of demonstrations.
The university, along with many campuses across South Africa, has been closed for at least two weeks during protests over tuition fees, with violent clashes regularly erupting between students, police and private security guards.
Wits University authorities had vowed to re-open the campus on Tuesday, with vice-chancellor Adam Habib warning of the “immense consequences of not finishing the academic year”.
He said most students wanted to return to lectures, adding that police and security staff would ensure lectures would go ahead, and no mass protests would be allowed to gather.
“The university wants to arrest us, instead of listening to us,” said 21-year-old Patrick Shabalala, a third-year law student, amid repeated clashes outside Wits’ Great Hall auditorium.