The William O’Brien (WOB) building at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Pietermaritzburg main campus was set on fire late last night.

This follows student protests that have been ongoing for the past couple of weeks against the National Student Financial Aid scheme’s new direct payment method.

On Friday, the institution sent out an email informing students that contact classes were going to resume yesterday – a week after they were moved to online classes due to ongoing student protests.

Yesterday armed police officers were seen patrolling inside the campus as well as police vehicles monitoring the situation at the campus gates.

Reports and videos of the building set alight started circulating late last night.

This is not the first time the WOB building was set on fire by protesting students.

In September 2016, a number of protesting students were arrested after they clashed with police and set the WOB building alight.