The ANC said it was “concerned” by the “invasion of the parliamentary premises” by protesting students on Wednesday. It also believed the situation could have been handled “differently”.

The ruling party released a statement shortly after university students gathered in their thousands and stormed the parliamentary precinct. It said it would meet with student leaders on Thursday.

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene was delivering his mid-term budget at the time.

Chaos erupted with police firing stun grenades and teargas at the students. Six people were detained.

The ANC’s Keith Khoza said: “While this matter is being attended to, the ANC calls for calm.

“We need to minimise the disruption of tertiary education, while at the same time responding to the legitimate issue of fees within the context of moving towards a long term solution. We commend students for having staged peaceful protests since the beginning of the protests.” News24