WATCH | Wits protesters trash CBD, intimidate shopkeepers into closing

The protest by Wits University students has become chaotic, with groups turning violent as they move between campuses.

In Braamfontein, shopkeepers were intimidated into closing their doors, street poles were torn down and rubbish was strewn across the streets. 

A small group is still at the Empire and Yale entrance, where the day started with a barricade of burning tyres and rocks intended to shut down the campus. Police and Johannesburg metro police were on the scene.

Students and security officers were also involved in a scuffle outside the university’s Great Hall.

Their aim was to move their protest inside the venue, demanding the vice-chancellor address them. Security guards protected the premises from the students, some in masks and balaclavas.

SRC president Aphiwe Mnyamana said: “We will not stop our demonstrations until our demands are met.

“As students, we are protesting peacefully. We handed in a memorandum to the university, but they said classes will resume as normal, meaning they are not taking us seriously.”

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.