Cops fire at angry mob
2005-10-08 16:14
Johannesburg - Police fired rubber bullets to disperse an angry crowd that gathered outside the Eldorado Park police station on Saturday morning.
Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said the police were forced to fire the bullets after residents started throwing stones at them.
"Some of the police vehicles were damaged but nobody was injured."
The crowd started gathering outside the police station on Saturday morning when residents handed over a man they believed was involved in the murder of six-year-old Ghairoenisha Michaela Lee Canchi.
The situation remained tense on Saturday afternoon.
They chanted words like "We want justice" as some community members threw stones breaking several windows at the police station.
The crowd continued burning tyres in the middle of Buckingham road. Police also fired more rubber bullets in an attempt to disperse the angry mob.
At least 10 people were believed to have been arrested.
The girl went missing on Thursday afternoon and her body was found close to her home on Friday morning. She was buried on Friday afternoon.
Dlamini said no one has been formally charged for the girl's murder and that police were still investigating.
Community leader Yasseen Hyatt told 702 Eyewitness News on Friday that Michaela went missing around 17:00 but that the police only started looking for her five hours later.
Hyatt lashed out at the police saying she might have been found alive if the Eldorado Park police station had reacted immediately.
Instead they told the parents to wait 24 hours.
- SAPA