South African riot police have used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protesting students outside parliament in Cape Town, as demonstrations against rising university fees rocked campuses around the country.

Key points: South African students protest at parliament against tuition fee hikes

South African students protest at parliament against tuition fee hikes Clashes break out with riot police as tear gas and stun grenades are launched

Clashes break out with riot police as tear gas and stun grenades are launched Students say they were promised free education in 1994 and nothing has changed

Hundreds of students forced their way through gates of the parliament complex and gathered at the entrance of the national assembly building, clashing with police who tried to force them back.

Universities in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and other cities have halted lectures during several days of protests against fee increases that many say will force poor black students further out of the education system.

Protesters kicked police shields and threw bottles during running clashes outside parliament, with police repeatedly using stun grenades to try to control the angry crowds.

They sang popular protest songs and anti-apartheid slogans, and demanded to speak to education minister Blade Nzimande by chanting "We want Blade, We want Blade".

The students were attempting to disrupt the reading of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene's interim budget.

University protests have erupted regularly this year as students vented their anger over the limited racial transformation in education since the end of racist white-minority rule with Nelson Mandela's election in 1994.

"In 1994, they were promised free education and nothing has been done," University of Cape Town (UCT) student Judd Kron said.

"This is not about race, it's not about political affiliation, it's about giving people the education they deserve."

Inside parliament on Wednesday, lawmakers from the radical opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party delayed the finance minister's mid-term budget speech by chanting "Fees must fall".

The EFF, who wear red overalls as their uniform, were forced out of the chamber by security staff before Mr Nene delivered his address.

Rising anger

"It needs to be said that disruption of learning is not constructive, neither is disruption of parliament," Mr Nene said, adding that the government was determined to tackle the issue of university funding.

After the speech, which was attended by president Jacob Zuma, the speaker told lawmakers to wait in their offices due to the violence outside.

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Mmusi Maimane, leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party, called for Mr Zuma to "address the students because this requires leadership".

"If we fail to do that, there will be an even bigger crisis on our head," he told lawmakers.

University officials have been in talks with student leaders over implementation of the fee rises, which they say are necessary to strengthen weak education standards.

The government has proposed that annual fee increases are capped at 6 per cent.

Tuition fees at Wits university in Johannesburg range from 29,620 rand ($3,000) a year for a bachelor of arts degree and 58,140 rand ($6,000) per year for a medicine degree, excluding accommodation and textbooks.

Fee increases differ from one institution to the other.

Port Elizabeth, in the southeast of the country, was another of the cities hit by student unrest on Wednesday.

"This morning we had to fire stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse a group of students who had blocked a public road," Miranda Mills, the city's police spokeswoman, said.

Elsewhere, students at Stellenbosch University outside Cape Town have been lobbying for weeks for more classes to be taught in English rather than Afrikaans, the language of the former apartheid regime.

At UCT, students in March led a high-profile and successful campaign for the removal of a statue of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes from the campus.

AFP/Reuters