Wits students hurl rocks at security guards

20 September 2016

Johannesburg - Protesting Wits students clashed with security guards outside the steps of the institution's Great Hall on Tuesday afternoon.

Students hurled rocks and chunks of concrete at guards, who hid behind shields. Some guards retaliated and threw the rocks back at the students, while one used a fire extinguisher to disperse some of them.

Windows and glass doors leading into the hall were damaged by the rocks, which lay strewn across the steps.

The students were demanding access to Senate House, which they have renamed Solomon Mahlangu House.

Police arrived on the scene later.

Earlier, protesters marched through the streets of Johannesburg, collecting other students from different campuses. They told journalists that they wanted to hold a mass meeting at the main campus to plan the way forward.

The protests follow a nationwide call for students to shut down universities, following the announcement by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande on Monday that institutions would be able to determine their fee increment for 2017 as long as it did not exceed 8%.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.