South African police attack anti-Obama protests

Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenade into a crowd of hundreds of protesters before US President Obama arrived at the University of Johannesburg. The crowd quickly scattered as police officers walked up the street pushing protesters away with shot guns. "I feel my rights are being infringed," said 24-year-old Bilaal Qibr, who was at the protest. Protests have been planned at the university over Obama's visit and the news that he was to receive an honorary doctorate Saturday, USA Today reported. "They don't believe Obama deserves that award. The US position and its relationship with Israel has created a problem," said Levy Masete, president of the Student Representative Council. "The students say, Stop the oppression in Palestine, and you want to honor this man who is making this oppression possible." "He's here for our African resources," said Nomagugu Hloma, 19, a student at what she called the "sell out" university. "Hands off our gold, oil, diamonds and land," she said. South Africa's biggest trade union, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) also said they would be protesting, while the Muslim Lawyers Association called for the president's arrest for war crimes. "I'm disappointed with President Obama," said Putase Tseki, the COSATU chairman of Gauteng province in Johannesburg. "He promised he would (change) his foreign policy, he was going to resolve Palestine and close Guantanamo. I would say I was positive four years ago, but now I don't know." The "feeling of being let down" helped stem the protests, says William Beinart, an African studies professor at Britain's University of Oxford. "High hopes were held for Barack Obama and his impact on Africa, and there has been some disappointment that he has not made a huge effort to increase aid," Beinart said. Even in Pretoria, blocks away from the hospital where former South African president Nelson Mandela has remained with a lung infection, students set up protests against US policies on drones and the Middle-East on Friday.