Violence erupts at Delft
2008-02-19 13:05
Verashni Pillay
Cape Town - Violence erupted at the N2 Gateway housing project in Delft on Tuesday morning when illegal occupiers of the unfinished houses threw stones at police and resisted removal.
Police fired rubber bullets at the crowd, injuring at least seven people.
"Police were forced to take action and rubber bullets were used to protect the sheriff of the court and his personnel and allow them to execute their duties," Superintendent Andre Traut told News24.
More than 1 000 backyard dwellers are illegally occupying housing units in Delft which are part of the N2 Gateway housing project. Police moved in early on Tuesday morning to aid the eviction process, carried out by the sheriff of the court.
On Monday the backyard dwellers' application for leave to appeal the eviction order was dismissed in the Cape High Court.
'Innocent children'
"They're shooting the people because they people were only asking them not to remove their stuff. Then they went ballistic and they started shooting innocent children," Beverley Jacobs, a Delft resident said.
The sheriff of the court's personnel was removing furniture from the illegally occupied houses. The residents started taking their furniture of the truck, prompting police to take action.
Prince Xhanti, project manager for building company Thubleisha Homes who have been tasked with building and allocating housing in the N2 Gateway project, could not be reached for comment on where the furniture was being taken to.
"They're removing it in a truck to a tent somewhere in Kraaifontein I think," said Jacobs.
The injured people were being treated on the scene by emergency services personnel.
"We are maintaining the police presence in the area to prevent any further eruptions of violence," said Traut.
Meanwhile Sapa reported that the residents had decided to approach the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign said in a statment that "all the anti-eviction campaign co-ordinators have advised the police that there is another legal case pending and they have no authority to evict until the legal process is exhausted but they are doing it anyway.
The campaign also claimed that twenty residents were injured and rushed to hospital, including three children.
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- News24