What the world is saying about

What the world is saying about South Africa’s nationwide university protests

The world’s media has picked up on the current nationwide protests in South Africa.

What the world is saying about

The BBC

While the BBC has been covering the protests in a neutral manner, emphasising the heavy police presence at most institutions and the fact that the students are refusing to back down, the news site did give agency to Blade Nzimande in an article entitled: “South Africa’s Nzimande offers to cap student fees”.

However, the BBC did include the opinions of a number of protesting students, and drew parallels with the 1976 Soweto Uprising, saying: “Student politics is part of the fibre of South Africa’s politics and the university protests”.

 

The New York Times

The New York Times covered the protests on a rather superficial level, detailing a “clash” between riot police officers and students protesting against tuition increases.  

The publication was quick to mention that “demonstrations have roiled several South African universities this year, often revolving around economic and racial issues”.

 

The Telegraph

“Thousands of students bearing placards and sticks and singing have clashed angrily with security guards and police,” reads the article in the Telegraph.  

 

ABC News Australia

ABC News published an article by AFP/Reuters highlighting that the South African riot police were forced to use tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the protesting students.   

A stand-out paragraph read as follows: “Protesters kicked police shields and threw bottles during running clashes outside parliament, with police repeatedly using stun grenades to try to control the angry crowds.”

Shanghai Daily

Shanghai Daily took a more balanced approach and reported the facts by saying that the police “fired rubber bullets and teargas at protesting students”. The article, “S.African police fire teargas at protesting students” gave agency to the student protestors and highlighted that a number of students were in fact injured by rubber bullets and tear gas.

The Guardian

The Guardian chose to lead with the following, “At least one student injured and several detained after protest over proposed fees hike”. The article is threaded together with quotes from University of Cape Town student protestor, Motheo Lengoasa as well as University of Witwatersrand student leader, Mcebo Dlamini.

 

Fox News

Fox News was one of the few sites to call the protest peaceful. “Hundreds of students also demonstrated peacefully against planned tuition hikes outside parliament,” the Associated Press article read.  

Al Jazeera

In a short article, Al Jazeera underlined the “chaos” at parliament today as students “scuffed” with riot police.

 

Top photo by Twitter

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