South African university engulfed in violence in protests over education costs One of South Africa's top universities descended into violence Monday, with police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons at stone-throwing students who are locked in a bitter national dispute with administrators and the government over demonstrators' demands for free education.
Stun grenades boomed and gunshots crackled as police cleared protesters at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the most prominent site of a student movement that recently shut other universities and prompted official warnings that badly needed medics, engineers and other skilled workers might not be able to graduate this year.