S. Africa Police Open Fire at White School

Police fired birdshot and tear gas and used whips Monday in running battles with hundreds of student protesters, both blacks and whites, at the University of Cape Town.

It was believed to be the first clash in which police fired guns to control rioting at a predominantly white school, and it was one of the most violent campus disturbances since a national state of emergency was declared in June, 1986.

The violence followed a midday rally by anti-apartheid student groups protesting a South African army commando raid Saturday on alleged guerrilla targets in Zambia. After the rally, students singing freedom songs marched through the campus at the foot of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

Seven students were arrested and three policemen were slightly injured, the government’s Bureau for Information reported. Vice Chancellor Stuart Saunders, the chief university administrator, said eight to 10 students were wounded by birdshot, including two who required medical treatment for wounds to the face and stomach.

Journalists at the scene had reported at least five students hit by birdshot. A free-lance photographer and several students were reported hurt by whips.

About 15% of the university’s 12,000 students are of mixed-race, black or Asian descent. The others are white.

Number of Students Disputed

Reporters said at least 100 police officers dealt with the unrest. The government’s Bureau for Information said about 300 students were involved in clashes. Witnesses put the number at 400 to 500.

During the melee, reporters said, a police helicopter buzzed the campus, students barricaded themselves in the student union building, and police broke through the locked door of a library where protesters sought refuge.

The Bureau for Information said that police fired tear gas and used whips on students after police vehicles were stoned. It said officers fired birdshot because they feared that the protests would spread from the campus to a nearby highway.

Serious unrest is believed to have occurred earlier this year at the University of the North, a black school in northern Transvaal province, but authorities have refused to disclose details.

Also on Monday, striking black postal workers voted to continue a walkout begun April 2 to demand improved working conditions and show solidarity with striking rail workers.