Parliament - Riot police armed with stun grenades and teargas have been called in to the Parliamentary precinct to deal with striking Nehawu workers.
Workers were given five minutes to disperse.
Riot police and workers faced off on the steps outside the National Council of Provinces.
Workers sang the national anthem and chanted:” You can’t move us! We work here! We work here!”
The police then fired teargas and stun grenades.
Two people were arrested during the standoff and Independent Media can confirm that one is the political adviser of deputy speaker Lechesa Tsenoli.
ANC deputy chief whip Doris Dlakuda addressed the workers saying: “Give us time to sort this out.”
The striking workers moved off the steps of the NCOP, and are staging a sit-in in Parliament Avenue at the Poorthuis entrance.
Police have instructed the media and non-striking parliamentary staff to leave the scene as they prepare to move in again.
Political leaders from the UDM, ANC and DA are now intervening in the standoff.
UDM chief whip Nqabayomzi Kwankwa told protesting workers he is talking to Tsenoli to call off the police however workers would need to undertake to protest peacefully.
Dlakuda has also asked workers for the space so police could be engaged to withdraw.
A short while ago Kwankwa, Dlakuda and the DA’s Mmusi Maimane were seen talking to the police.
Earlier on Wednesday, hundreds of National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) members took over the police committee meeting, on the third day of protests by parliamentary employees.
Some were dressed in red union T-shirts and many also sported yellow ANC T-shirts bearing President Jacob Zuma’s image.
Walking into the Good Hope Chambers singing “ePalamente sifuna imali. Asonwabanga! (Parliament, we want money. We are not happy)”, proceedings were ultimately suspended - even though some MPs stayed put for a while.
Although Parliament on Tuesday said it was invoking a September 2010 interdict to ban protest action in the precinct, effectively meaning police would have to enforce it, Nehawu dismissed this as an “illegal” interdict.
Political Bureau
*This story will updated as the story unfolds.