VIDEO: Police move in after Wits students block road

A Rea Vaya bus was forced to reverse as students occupied York Road before lunchtime as lectures remained suspended.

The medical school was targeted by the students as they believed academic activities were continuing despite wide spread protests.

Some of the protesters sat in the middle of the road, forcing motorists to turn back.

Former SRC president Mcebo Dlamini arrived outside campus and urged the protesters to continue and remain disciplined.

“The examinations were supposed to start today comrades, but because of the protest that will not happen. We will remain focused until we get what we want,” he said.

Dlamini announced that musician Simphiwe Dana would be performing for the students at the main campus later in the evening, much to loud cheers from the students.

The revolution, said Dlamini can be traumatic, hence Dana’s performance “for the black child”.

Most of the students refused to talk to reporters, claiming that media was not reporting the protest story accurately. They had been wrongly portrayed as violent, they said.

The students intensified their protest this week against the proposed 10.5 percent tuition fee increase for 2016 by taking to the streets of Braamfontein and to other surrounding campuses.

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande was holding an urgent meeting with university vice chancellors over fee hikes on Tuesday in Cape Town.

- ANA