University students in South Africa vowed to disrupt activities across the nation if the government fails to make higher education free to all South Africans by the end of the week.

They started protests at the University of Witwatersrand last week and engaged in running battles with private security and national security agencies. Four universities across the nation have already closed due to escalation in the violence.

The #FeesMustFall protests started a week after Blade Nzimande, the Higher Education minister directed each university to decide on its fees increment that will be implemented next year.

The hike will however be capped at eight percent and poor and missing middle group will be exempted, Eyewitness News reported. The government took the decision to increase fees in October, last year.

“Right now we want free education and if this government won’t commit itself to giving us free education, we will run this country ungovernable,” Eyewitness News quoted Kefentse Mkhari, student leader at University of Witwatersrand, saying.

The students plan to approach taxi operators and the South African Council of Churches to support the protests.

Police beefed up security after three petrol bombs were found at University of Witwatersrand’s Braamfontein campus on Saturday, eNCA reported. A law library at University of KwaZulu-Natal was set on fire earlier in the month when the protests began.

At least 30 students have already been arrested since the protests broke last week.

African National Congress (ANC), the country’s ruling party, said that the discovery of the bombs was proof that students were being militarized to cause more havoc on the South African society and blame it on the government, news24 reported.

The students have used social media to rally people behind the cause, using #FeesMustFall, a Twitter hashtag that was launched in October, last year when the government announced plans to hike tertiary fees.

The protesting students have said that the fees increment will bar poor students, mainly from the black community from accessing quality education in Africa’s second biggest economy.

Many of them rely on scholarships and student loans that have at times been hard to get.

On Saturday, the unrest caused the postponement of a South African Premier League (PSL) match between Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits at Bidvest Stadium, Soccer Laduma reported.

Bidvest Wits is a football club that has close ties with the university. It was formed by the university’s student council representatives in 1971.