JOHANNESBURG, South Africa--President P.W. Botha said yesterday that raids on alleged guerrilla targets in three nearby countries were justified pre-emptive strikes similar to the U.S. bombing of Libya.

The raids Monday into Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe brought condemnation from around the world, caused the nation's currency to plunge on financial markets, and inspired protests by thousands of college students, both Black and white.

Police used water cannon and tear gas against 200 students, most of them white, at the University of Cape Town who carried placards that said, "Botha is a terrorist."

About 800 students of both races from the University of the Wit-watersrand in Johannesburg staged an outdoor protest yesterday, and 13 arrests were reported. Protesters threw stones at two police cars and several private cars. Witnesses said students rushed at a group of police, shouting slogans against the white Afrikaners who control the ruling National Party.

At least 2,000 youths, more than half of them white, packed an auditorium later for an indoor protest.

Botha was defiant in his remarks to Parliament yesterday.

"South Africa will not allow the double standards and hypocrisy of the Western world...to stand in the way of our responsibilities to protect our country," he said. "The smugglers of terrorist arms into our country and murderers of innocent people must be hunted down."

The text of Botha's speech, distributed to reporters, ended with the sentence: "I congratulate (our security forces) an assure the country that we will do it again when the occasion demands." He omitted those words when speaking in Parliament.

His comments were the first government response to an outcry that included condemnations from the United States and Britain, which have resisted international attempts to impose tough economic sanctions on South Africa. Canada recalled its ambassador for consultations.