Protestors stone cars

2010-03-20 14:33

Polokwane - Angry protesters on Saturday barricaded the R50 in Leandra and were stoning cars travelling on the road, Mpumalanga police said.

"Motorists driving on the R50 between Johannesburg and Durban as well as the N17 from Standerton, must rather use the N12 between Evander and Delmas," said police spokesperson Captain Leonard Hlathi.

He said that residents went on the rampage, burning the local municipality building, the civic centre and police vehicles. The protest was over poor service delivery and began on Thursday.

Thirteen people were arrested. Hlathi said it was difficult to determine whether anyone had been injured when police fired rubber bullets, as protesters would run from police in fear of being arrested.

Meanwhile in Oogies one person was injured when police fired live rounds at a crowd and arrested 32 people during another violent protest.

"Police had to fire live ammunition as the angry mob was charging toward them," said Hlathi.

Residents in Oogies took to the streets on Thursday complaining about local mines giving jobs to foreigners instead of locals. They burnt a truck and two bakkies, and vandalised property.

Protesters also took belongings of a police reservist from his house and burnt them.

"We aim to arrest the organisers of the protest as we won't tolerate any form of lawlessness.

"As far as we are concerned, this is not a banana republic," Hlathi said.

- SAPA