Students at the Braamfontein campus of Wits could be looking at another long weekend, protesters disrupting lectures and shutting down offices temporarily.

Wits have released an official statement on the matter, covered below on TimesLive:

“A group of about 30 people have threatened students queuing outside the Fees Office‚” Wits senior management said in a statement on Monday. “The Fees Office and all other offices on the Ground Floor have thus been temporarily shut.”

Some lectures in Senate House and in buildings on the Wits East Campus have also been disrupted.

Wits said the students were joined by some employees of shopkeepers in the Matrix Student Centre‚ leading to the closure of the Matrix.

Some of the students were still protesting at the piazza outside the Great Hall‚ while others had moved to the West Campus.

“The University’s management condemns this behaviour‚ which is a direct violation of the court order obtained by the University and members of Campus Control have been deployed to stabilise the situation.”

Those present may recognise a certain Chumani Maxwele, the UCT student who made waves last year. This from News24:

…he said they were “shutting down the university”.

He said they had come to protest in solidarity with students from several universities, including Wits, who had been suspended.

It was unclear what these suspensions were in relation to…

It was understood that the protesters were spraying fire extinguishers all over the campus.

Wits student newspaper Vuvuzela claims that the protests are being led by the EFF and the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania:

“Students are protesting for free education and the destabilisation of youth following the ConCourt ruling‚” the publication tweeted.

[Another Twitter user]‚ listed as a student‚ claimed via Twitter: “We were gassed with carbon monoxide at the library and forced out of lecture theaters [sic] by the EFF protesters #Wits.” No corroboration was immediately available.

If it is indeed true that protesters are forcing students from lectures using gas then that video up top may be the tip of the iceberg.

[sources:news24&timeslive]

[imagesource:witsvuvezela]