Student protesters clashed with riot police outside South African's parliament on Wednesday during large demonstrations against planned college tuition increases that have gripped the country.
Police shot stun grenades in an attempt to disperse the crowd that had gathered outside the Cape Town building as university students pushed through gates and attempted to storm the government offices.
Earlier, security guards forcibly removed a group of opposition lawmakers from the parliament floor after the lawmakers, who are sympathetic to the students, disrupted debate by chanting: "Fees must fall!"
The crowds gathered at the parliament building on Wednesday afternoon, chanting and singing in a largely peaceful demonstration that later devolved into chaos. A small group of students were arrested.
The demonstrations are part of a wave of nationwide protests that have shut down many South Africa universities, which say they are struggling with higher operational costs as well as inadequate state subsidies.
Parliament right now. All progressive movements are accounted for #NationalShutDown #FeesMustFall pic.twitter.com/S9P6tq3j0F— Kgotsi Chikane (@Kgotsi22) October 21, 2015
Blade Nzimande, the higher education minister, this week proposed a 6% limit on tuition fee increases next year, but student leaders rejected the proposal and said they would continue their protests, South African media reported.
He addressed the students gathered outside parliament, where he was booed by the crowd. Students chanted "zero, zero, zero," demanding there be no increase in student fees for 2016, according to South African news outlet News24.
Members of Parliament struggled to find ways out of the building at the end of working hours as large crowds still gathered at parliament.
Tyres are burning outside Parliament. As #NationalShutDown goes on @eNCA #FeesMusFall pic.twitter.com/a5GklhY8yz— Bonga Dlulane (@BongaDlulane) October 21, 2015
Elsewhere in the country, other large demonstrations took place. The University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, also known as Wits, has suspended lectures and other operations for the rest of the week.
It had dropped a proposed hike of 10.5 percent in tuition fees after several days of protests. Other universities had also planned increases of at least 10 percent.
Protesters mobilized on Wednesday, calling on supporters to shut down universities across South Africa by staging large-scale rallies. Thousands marched at Wits during the planned day of action.
#FeesMustFall Wits students arrive singing at the Great Hall pic.twitter.com/6J4Qvau3CD— Nickolaus Bauer (@NickolausBauer) October 21, 2015
Students activists also shared photos and messages from the events on Twitter using the hashtag #NationalShutDown, which was quickly trending across South Africa along with the hashtag #FeesMustFall.
Stellenbosch earlier today. Nice neh? #NationalShutDown #FeesMustFall pic.twitter.com/F5AY1BSSNW— Shaka Sisulu (@ShakaSisulu) October 21, 2015
#UFH EL students coming in numbers joining the protest #FeesMustFall #NationalShutDown #FreeEducation pic.twitter.com/d9TK0G0VHB— #FeesMustFall (@OfficialNelisa) October 21, 2015
Graduating with tons & tons of student debt - the story of every black first generation graduate #FeesMustFall— Mhlengi (@GottaHaveMC) October 21, 2015
Additional information from the Associated Press.