Durban – Police arrested 15 students who protested at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Pietermaritzburg campus on Wednesday.
Police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said the students were arrested after they forced other students to join the protest and allegedly assaulted security guards.
“The Pietermaritzburg Public Order Policing Unit at Alexandra Road police [station] were alerted about the incident.”
He said the 15 would be charged with contravening a Durban High Court interdict that the university obtained last month banning violent protests.
He said they were expected to appear in court soon.
UKZN university spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said: “The [protesting] students, bearing sticks, threatened students and staff whilst in the course of their duties. Some [protesting] students discharged fire extinguishers in lecture theatres.”
He said the protests were in violation of the interdict and that the university’s management condemned all violence and intimidation.
He said additional security had been deployed to the campus.
“The right to protest is enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the university respects the rights of students to protest in a peaceful manner and to conduct themselves with dignity and decorum. The university also respects the rights of students who wish to attend lectures and continue with the academic programme,” said Seshoka.
He said that all five campuses remained open and that the university would attempt to ensure that the remainder of the 2015 academic year continued uninterrupted.
African News Agency
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