Durban - Running battles between police and students erupted for the second consecutive day at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Westville campus on Tuesday.
Police used rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades as they clashed with students at the campus' Oval residence and later at the P-Block residence.
Traffic into the campus was stopped by security. One student shouted from behind a dustbin lid he was using as a shield: “Tell the VC (vice-chancellor Albert van Jaarsveld) to shut the campus down or we will close it ourselves”. His dustbin lid had a number of small dents where it had clearly been struck by rubber bullets.
Journalists were warned to get out of the way by students. “Get out of the way or you will get hurt,” shouted a student.
Moments later a bottle landed in front of a car being driven by a journalist. The journalist accelerated away.
One student could be seen using a slingshot from a bathroom window in the Oval residence. A number of petrol bombs were thrown, but they appeared to have little effect in the wet vegetation surrounding the Oval.
Debris littered the road and one police officer had blood running down his left arm, although he appeared to be unconcerned about his injury. At one stage a student held up a sign that read “#FEES”. More rocks and bottles thrown. A police officer responded by shouting: “You throw like a girl!”
African News Agency