JOHANNESBURG – Protesting students at the North West University Mahikeng campus have set fire to the science building.
University spokesperson Koos Deganaar says a group of students, believed to be Economic Freedom Fighters members, disrupted the Student Representative Council inauguration ceremony today.
Violent clashes between the group and private security companies have been ongoing throughout the day with officers using tear gas and rubber bullets to try and disperse the crowd.
Deganaar says some students have been injured and others have now set fire to property.
“There was some vandalism at our staff cafeteria and now they have started to burn the science centre on campus.”
Earlier, there were reports of private security officers firing live ammunition at students.
The students then took to social media to report this, claiming one of them had been shot and killed during the clashes.
The university has refuted these claims saying they are ‘unfounded’.
– EWN