Six Rhodes Must Fall members disrupted Saturday’s celebration at the University of Cape Town marking the 50th anniversary of Robert F Kennedy’s “Ripples of Hope” speech.

Brandishing handwritten cardboard signs saying “UCT doesn’t celebrate black icons” and “No to US hegemony“‚ the students entered Jameson Hall during a speech by Congressman John Lewis‚ a leader of the US Civil Rights movement‚ who encouraged audience members to create “good trouble“.

The students were allowed to stay and stood quietly as first Lewis then the Rev Mpho Tutu spoke.

 One of the students was given an opportunity to speak before the keynote address by Kennedy’s daughter‚ Kerry‚ and he said UCT continued to honour only white figures‚ and the US was a threat to world peace. The students then left.

The event was held shortly after the US warned its citizens that it had information terror attacks were being planned against “places where US citizens congregate‚ such as upscale shopping areas and malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town“

In a scheduled speech‚ Fees Must Fall leader Lovelyn Nwadeyi‚ from Stellenbosch University‚ called President Jacob Zuma a “black emperor” and criticised the continued protection of white minority interests.

US ambassador Patrick Gaspard called for a minute’s silence in memory of ex-world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali‚ who died on Friday‚ and Kerry Kennedy began her speech with a tribute to Ali.

She said her father’s main hope when he visited South Africa in 1966 was to meet “the great Chief Albert Luthuli“‚ then president of the ANC

Kennedy praised South Africa‚ saying no country had done more to overcome entrenched hatred. But in a reference to the Nkandla scandal swirling around Zuma she said that “no man or his swimming pool is above the law“.

Earlier on Saturday‚ Kennedy visited Robben Island with former political prisoner Ahmed Kathrada.