Clashes break out at UJ
Violence broke out at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Thursday when students and workers clashed with security personnel during protests against outsourcing at the institution.
The workers, who were mostly cleaners, were joined by a group of students and protested outside the campus when a stand-off between private security guards and the protesters ensued.
Three people were taken to hospital after they were pepper sprayed by the guards as they tried to disperse the protesters. The protesters, who included elderly women, were kicked and manhandled by the guards during the confrontation.
The institution had hired additional security after protests broke out at the campus on Monday.
The students accused the private security of first assaulting them on Wednesday when they staged a peaceful protest alongside the workers.
“We were kicked and punched for no reason at all. This is what the management at the former Rand Afrikaanse Universiteit (RAU) has unleashed on its students and workers who are just demanding decent wages,” said law student Mogapi Kgonare.
He said the students would continue supporting the workers under the “occupy UJ” banner.
“Witwatersrand University and UCT did it by negotiating directly with management. Why can’t our vice chancellor come and speak to us? Instead he suspends SRC leadership and calls on security to beat us up,” he said.
The students had their own demands, which included the scrapping of student debt and registration fees at the institution.
A press briefing by Vice Chancellor Ihron Rensburg on the protests was scheduled to take place at the institution on Thursday. - ANA
(File photo)