WATCH: Rhodes students form human barrier, protest topless against rape

   

In unbelievable scenes at Rhodes University in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday‚ students have taken to protesting topless as they blocked off one of the roads leading to the campus.

According to The Herald’s Lee-Anne Butler‚ police have arrived at the scene where students have blocked off Prince Alfred road‚ one of the main roads leading to residences and lecture venues.

Some of the students laid themselves on the ground as they refused to move.

One of the protesting students has accused the police of protecting rapists when they‚ the students‚ are protesting peacefully against rape.

The protest comes after tension at the university erupted when hundreds of students started searching residences for alleged rapists and threatened an academic shutdown when the names of 11 male students accused of rape were posted on social media.

The protest arose after the launch of a rape culture awareness campaign which had prompted the Students Representative Council (SRC) to express its support.

However‚ when the SRC tweeted a picture of council members expressing solidarity‚ a student retweeted the picture‚ saying her friend’s alleged rapist was in the image.

Earlier on Tuesday a video began circulating on social media depicting Vice-Chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela shoving a student in an attempt to remove the barricade placed at the entrance to the university.

Mabizela later apologised for the incident.

See Video below..