Xenophobia: camp locked up

2008-07-17 20:04

Johannesburg - A camp for xenophobia victims has been locked up after earlier violence, a ward councillor for the area said on Thursday.

Councillor Dennis Jane said police locked up the Glenanda camp, situated on Rifle Range Road in southern Johannesburg, after a stand-off between police and the residents on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday night residents at the camp locked up security guards who arrived there in an office. When police came to release them on Thursday morning, residents refused to let them leave and threw stones. Police then shot rubber bullets at them.

Jane said residents formed a human barrier around the fence of the administrative area and would not let the police or guards pass. At first men formed the barrier, but later women and children were brought to the front of it.

'They are traumatised'

He said police fired rubber bullets when they refused to disperse.

Earlier, police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini said 10 people, including seven women, were arrested for public violence when they threw stones at the police.

Pastor John Mulumba, chairperson of the Coalition against Xenophobia, who was at the camp on Thursday afternoon, said the people had locked up the guards due to safety concerns. They thought the guards might be spies, he said.

"[The residents have] no trust, They are traumatised," he said.

Jane said a meeting was underway with a representative of the provincial council, the police station commander and the camp manager to try and work out their problems.

He said there had been a suggestion that those responsible for internal security might not be willing to do the job anymore.

- SAPA