Students from several higher education institutions‚ including the universities of Pretoria and South Africa‚ who are demanding free education‚ successfully made it to the lawns of the Union Buildings in the capital despite the march not being legal.
School children from Soshanguve‚ Lodi and Attridgeville also joined the #feesmustfall march – which started from Church Square - and have actively been partaking in the protest.
There is a high police presence at the Union Buildings with water cannons and nyala armoured vehicles on standby.
Students are gathered on the lawns but there is still no sign of any officials from the department of higher education and training that is meant to collect the memorandum.
The students had earlier threatened to go ahead with the march despite it being illegal.
Metro Police spokesperson Isaac Mahamba earlier told TMG Digital that permission was denied because no information was given about who would be accepting the protesters’ memorandum‚ and that Church Square could not accommodate the buses that are coming from “all the provinces”.
TMG Digital/The Times
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