PORT ELIZABETH, September 28 (ANA) – At least 10 students were arrested at Rhodes University in Grahamstown on Wednesday as a protest over fees descended in chaos and violence.
Videos posted on Oppidan Press twitter feed show students being dragged and shot at by police officials.
Speaking to the African News Agency (ANA), Oppidan Press Online Editor, Leila Kidson, said that she had witnessed police react with “brutality†to protesting students.
“The university has been on a shutdown since last week. Management and students were having discussions which were going well up until yesterday [Tuesday] when they basically just said no to all of the demands,†she said.
Kidson said that lectures were meant to resume on Wednesday but some students disrupted classes in the law faculty. She said students blocked an intersection and pandemonium erupted when one threw a rock at a police vehicle.
“Police started shooting and students started running back on to campus, but even once students had ran away police continued to shoot over the hedge,†she claimed.
“A student tried to jump over a wall but he was pulled back and dragged by police, I saw students shot in the head and the arm, people were bleeding,†said Kidson.
Police Spokesperson Lieutenant Luvuyo Mjekula said that 10 students had been arrested.
“Five of the students were arrested on charges relating to violating a court interdict, the other five students are being charged with malicious damage to property,†he said.
-African News Agency (ANA)
