Calm after Cape Town protests

2007-09-10 17:23

Cape Town - Police say they have restored calm at the scene of a housing protest that led to the closure of the N2 on Monday morning.

SA Police spokesperson Capt Elliot Sinyangana said the protesters had dispersed by the mid-afternoon, after police fired rubber bullets and a stun grenade.

Traffic was flowing, there had been no-re-occurrence of the morning's violence, and police were monitoring the situation.

He could not immediately comment on a claim that dozens of protesters were arrested, but did say he understood one protester had sustained minor injuries.

Earlier, the protesters set up a burning barricade just off the N2, threw stones at passing motorists and police, broke up dwellings under construction in the N2 Gateway project, and set a bakery delivery van alight.

Police closed both lanes of the highway for a period over the morning traffic peak.

The protesters, apparently mostly residents of the Joe Slovo shack settlement next to the Gateway project, were protesting against a move to temporary housing at Delft, some distance away on the Cape Flats, to make room for further Gateway construction.

Violence 'completely unjustified'

National Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, whose department is punting the Gateway as a flagship project, said in a statement that Joe Slovo residents had to decide whether they wanted to co-operate with government and qualify for housing.

"If they choose not to co-operate, they will be removed completely from all housing waiting lists," she said.

Government would not tolerate violence and vandalism.

She said Gateway project management had been interacting with residents, and the violence was "completely unjustified".

According to the police, she said, some of the protesters had identified themselves as members of the Pan Africanist Congress.

"If indeed this was a PAC protest, it would confirm our worst suspicion that opportunistic individuals and/or parties are using Cape Town's housing crisis to their advantage," Sisulu said.

The Anti-Eviction Campaign said police had opened fire on the protesters at close range with rubber bullets.

"They shot women and children and people are seriously injured... Dozens of residents have been arrested and the police are refusing to say where they have taken these residents even though some are injured."

- SAPA