South African police have fired stun
grenades and arrested 31 students in Johannesburg, as a wave of protests
hit universities across the country. Students are demanding free education and denounced government plans to raise tuition fees by up to 8% in 2017.
Fees had been frozen last year after the biggest student protests since the end of apartheid in 1994. The demonstrators say price increases discriminate against black students with low family incomes.
The prestigious University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg has been a focal point of protests.
It said about 200 students in “roving groups are moving from campus to campus disrupting classes”.
The
University of Bloemfontein and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth said they had closed
campuses because of the protests.
The
University of Cape Town announced the suspension of classes as students
sang revolutionary songs barricaded entrances with litter bins.
University
of Witwatersrand Students’ Representative Council leader Nompendulo
Mkatshwa police fired stun grenades at students who had gathered near
the university to protest against the proposed fee increase.
“Students
are not happy with what the Department of Higher Education and Training
said, so they are fighting for equal education,” Ms Mkatshwa is quoted
by Reuters news agency as saying.
Police
spokesman Lungelo Dlamini said the arrested students “were blocking the
entrance of the university in contravention of the court order” and
were being held at a nearby station, Reuters reports.
Last
year, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma froze student fees for 2016
following the worst student protests to hit South Africa since minority
rule ended more than 20 years ago.
The
freeze has now been lifted, with Higher Education Minister Blade
Nzimande announcing on Monday that universities will be allowed to
increase fees by a maximum of 8%.
Critics say this is higher than the 6% inflation rate, and will make university education unaffordable for many students.
However,
universities favour an increase, saying they were facing a financial
crisis which was damaging their academic programmes.
Source: bbc.com