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Seventy students have been arrested at the University of KwaZulu Natal's Edgewood Campus in Pinetown, west of Durban. This follows a students' protest which turned violent.

Students have been on strike since last week. They are protesting against the way the National Students' Financial Aid Scheme allocates funding.

Monday morning students went on the rampage, forcing other students from lecture rooms. Earlier police used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse protesting students.

Provincial police spokesperson Thulani Zwane explains, "Students were protesting and they were also damaging the classes at the campus. Seventy of them were then arrested and charged for public violence. Those who were arrested will appear tomorrow in the Pinetown Magistrate's Court facing charges of public violence. The police are still monitoring the situation in the area."

The students were arrested for public violence and for contravening a court order. The order prohibits them from protesting inside all University of KwaZulu-Natal campuses.

"It's not fair because we also pay...we missed out the entire last week and it looks like we are going to miss [our classes] this week as well," says one of the affected students.

"I came here around 8 o'clock and I went to the lecture hall and a group of people came singing and kicked us out of the lecture hall and that was frustration," adds another angry student.

The university says students don't meet funding requirements. University spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka says, "I think some of those that have not been so successful previously are making it difficult to continue learning and that's a problem. That is why the law enforcement agencies are making an intervention but we also believe that there's an issue of politicking behind this."

Talks between university authorities and student leaders continue. It's not clear when lectures will resume.