No flying fridges, warn cops

2003-12-30 18:22

Johannesburg - South African police warned on Tuesday they would crack down hard on anybody lobbing items such as old frdiges from high-rise buildings during the New Year holiday.

Inspector Kriben Naidoo said hundreds of police would closely monitor buildings in Johannesburg's Hillbrow neighbourhood "where throwing things off balconies has become something of a bad New Year's institution".

Throwing unwanted goods out the windows has become a tradition in the run-down neighbourhood close to the city centre, where police wear helmets and flak-jackets on New Year's Eve and patrol the streets in armoured vehicles.

"We have given out thousands of pamphlets pleading with people not to throw objects, including things like refigerators, from their balconies, as well as asking people not to fire celebratory shots in the air," he said.

Doctors will be on standby

Several revellers had been killed in the past after being hit by stray bullets, said Naidoo.

A private medical services spokesperson said doctors and paramedics would be deployed in Hillbrow and an emergency centre had been set up at a fire station to deal with injuries.

"We will have at least four doctors and more than 20 medical personnel working around the clock in a combined effort with provincial health authorities," said Mandy Toubkin.

"But things have improved a lot in the past few years. We expect this New Year to be a quiet one," she added.

- AFP