S. AFRICA-PROTESTS/STUDENTS Violence at student protest as South Africa's 'Born Free generation' flexes muscle

Record ID: 135022

  • Title: S. AFRICA-PROTESTS/STUDENTS Violence at student protest as South Africa's 'Born Free generation' flexes muscle
  • Date: 23rd October 2015
  • Summary: PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (OCTOBER 23, 2015) (REUTERS) STUDENTS THROWING STONES STUDENTS HANGING ON BARBED WIRE STUDENTS PUSHING BARBED WIRE VARIOUS OF STUDENT PROTESTING TRUCK BURNING VARIOUS OF STUDENTS PROTESTING VARIOUS OF FIRE-FIGHTER EXTINGUISHING FIRE VARIOUS OF POLICE STANDING IN LINE, SHIELDING FROM STONES PROTESTERS AROUND FIRE PROTESTERS
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA22OARWCKMQ0LPOU3ALGGUT7IK
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South African police fired stun grenades on Friday (October 23) at students who lit fires outside President Jacob Zuma's offices following a week of protests, the first signs of the post-apartheid 'Born Free' generation flexing its muscle.
    Students protesting against tuition fee increases hurled stones at police guarding the Union Buildings ahead of an address by Zuma. A few pushed through a cordon before being pushed back by anti-riot police who also used water canons to douse the fires.
    The protest caps a week of angry demonstrations over the cost of university education - prohibitive for many blacks - amid frustration at the inequalities that persist two decades after the end of white-minority rule.
    But low growth since a 2009 recession has forced the government to keep a lid on spending, meaning that it has little spare cash to offer students in the form of enhanced subsidies.
    Tuition fees vary across universities, but can run as high as 60,000 rand ($4,500) per year for medical students in a country where white households still earn six times more than black households, according to official figures.
    Protests - some of them violent - have broken out at universities across the country this week, taking the ruling African National Congress (ANC) by surprise.
    On Wednesday, riot police threw stun grenades at students who stormed the parliament precinct in Cape Town as Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene delivered his interim budget in which he painted a gloomy outlook for Africa's most advanced economy.
    South Africa has a million students in further education, a figure that the ANC wants to increase to 1.5 million by 2030.
    Universities say they need higher fees to keep up standards and they urged the government to find the extra money. The government, which subsidises universities, said it could not afford the free education that students are demanding.
    Thousands of students from Wits and the University of Johannesburg marched through South Africa's commercial capital on Thursday to Luthuli House, the headquarters of the ANC, where they handed a list of demands to officials.
    On Friday, Africa's top-rated university, the University of Cape Town, said it had postponed the start of final exams due from October.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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