It has been a tense morning at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University where lectures were meant to resume on Tuesday.
There is a heavy police presence with dozens of police on the ground‚ and a police helicopter is also hovering above the crowd which is making its way towards the NMMU South Campus main building‚ Embizweni.
Police have issued a stern warning to the group.
“Everyone must evacuate the area before operations can begin. Anyone who is demonstrating will be detained for at least 24hrs‚” an officer said through a loud hailer.
Another officer said: “We have a problem as we can’t identify students who are here to learn as they are throwing rocks at us.”
The university‚ updating the public via Twitter‚ said police were stationed on all university campuses‚ “as per national directive from government”.
“Police have dispersed small group of protesters blocking S Campus. North Campus entrance open. Pls bring ID cards‚” one of the @NMMU4U tweets read.
“Police have closed N& S Campus entrances as a precaution. We will let you know when you can access them.”
The crowds have been gathering since about 4am and earlier on Tuesday‚ they were seen on video pelting police casspirs with stones. Police retaliated by spraying tear gas at the crowd.
In the video – posted on Twitter by Azola Mboniswa (?@AzolaMboniswa) – a group of women are heard saying: “Oh my f**ken soul. Oh my word. These people are going to die. Can I just save all of them. Can I please save all of them. They’re gonna run over people…”
A man‚ in the background‚ is heard saying: “There goes our varsity.”
The situation calmed down later in the morning‚ with students hiding from police in the bushes