The management of the University of Fort Hare has shut down the institution’s operations following Wednesday’s acts of arson and violence at its Alice campus in the Eastern Cape.

The university says in a statement that the disruption of university business, threats to staff and students and the destruction of property give them no alternative.

Students have been ordered off campus with a deadline of five o’clock on Thursday afternoon.

The university says it is committed to restoring normal operations as soon as the security situation allows, while online academic activities may continue as directed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

A number of buildings were torched on campus late Wednesday afternoon after clashes between protesting students and a security firm and then the police.

Students have been protesting since Monday, demanding the holding of SRC elections within this month and also calling for the scrapping of the contract extension of the Vice Chancellor, Prof Sakhela Buhlungu.

Protest at University of Fort Hare leaves two students injured