Academic activities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) Pietermaritzburg campus were disrupted when protesting students threw faeces into lecture halls.

A university staff member said some students were scheduled to write tests on Monday morning‚ but these were disrupted by the "poo throwers".

The employee said faeces were smeared all over computers in one test venue on the campus.

Earlier on Monday morning‚ fire fighters were called to the William O'Brien residence which was set alight.

UKZN management had previously said that it expects all campuses to be open for lectures on Monday.

However‚ late on Sunday afternoon‚ students in Pietermaritzburg met to take a decision on whether to protest following last week's violent strike action.

A student‚ who did not want to be named‚ said the meeting was called to “conscientise those who did not want to protest”.