CAPE TOWN - Emergency alarms at the University of Cape Town (UCT) sounded at around 7pm on Tuesday night after the student-led movement, Rhodes Must Fall (RMF), defied a request by the institution’s management to move a shack it erected on Upper Campus.

UCT gave RMF until 5pm to remove the shack, which was erected by RMF members to protest the institution’s alleged discrimination against black students in placing them in accommodation.

In a letter to RMF leadership, UCT had offered to assist to move the shack to a new space a few metres away from its current location in Residence Road.

However, more than two hours after the deadline to move, RMF members and their shack remained put.

Instead, RMF members protested, setting rubbish bins and various goods alight. This too was in defiance of UCT’s request that RMF refrain from illegal protest methods.

UCT have denied RMF’s claims, blaming the group for interfering with staff and operations on campus, forcing the closure of offices meant to deal with the accommodation shortage.

Shackville Police fired stun grenades earlier, to disperse students, as campus security demolished the shack @eNCA pic.twitter.com/xeVbGX2VY1 — Leigh-Anne Jansen (@LA_JANSEN) February 16, 2016

UCT has called cops and we are unarmed but we are ready to die for what we believe in! They are loading guns mxm!! pic.twitter.com/nVUwhOYXFj — Shackville (@IAmAFallist) February 16, 2016

Current mood : pic.twitter.com/r1E5clWHOO — Rhodes Must Fall (@RhodesMustFall) February 16, 2016