Land rights activists in court
2012-12-06 12:02
Cape Town - Four land rights activists appeared in court
after being arrested during farmworker protests in the Western Cape, the Cape
Argus reported on Thursday.
Mercia Andrews, Denia Jansen, Margaret Visser and Riaan
Willemse, of the Mawubye Land Rights Forum, faced charges of incitement,
intimidation and participating in an illegal gathering, after their arrest on
Tuesday.
They appeared in the Ashton Magistrate's Court on Wednesday,
where they were released and their case postponed to January 21.
Andrews told the newspaper that no intimidation was used to
encourage others to join a march they were participating in.
She said about 450 marchers gathered peacefully and were
moving from farm to farm in the region, "inviting" others to join
them.
They were making their way to a large packing store in the
Koo Region near Montagu when their police escort apparently stopped them.
"When police tried to herd them back down the road,
verbal insults were directed by the marchers at the police - as any person
would do so when treated like this."
When the four accused approached the police and threatened
to call the media, they were apparently escorted to a police van.
- SAPA
