Protesters loot and burn in Roodepoort

09 March 2017 - 16:28 By Naledi Shange
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Armed with bottles of petrol‚ tyres and matches‚ residents of the Princess informal settlement near Roodepoort threatened to cause chaos as they embarked on a fresh service delivery protest on Thursday.

The fresh round of demonstrations followed a bruising encounter on Wednesday night‚ when residents say they were assaulted by members of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department.

The group blockaded Main Reef Road with burning tyres. One truck was set alight.

The group first tried to stop an SAB truck but the driver passed straight through the barricade of burning tyres‚ sending one tyre flying through the air and hitting a nearby shack.

  • Roodepoort residents gear up for more protests after bruising standoff with JMPDRoodepoort residents are recovering from a bruising standoff with Johannesburg Metro Police.

A second‚ smaller delivery truck with two passengers came down the road.

The protesters stopped the truck. One protester‚ armed with his bottle of petrol‚ headed for the driver’s door and led him out the vehicle.

The driver and his passenger obeyed and came out with their hands raised as the protesters surrounded them.

The protesters led the two men to the back of the vehicle‚ where they opened the truck and found it empty. They then allowed the truck to pass through.

The protesters then turned on members of the media and threatened them.

“We don’t want you taking pictures of us‚” one protester said.

The group threatened to burn media vehicles parked on the scene. They banged on the TimesLIVE vehicle‚ forcing the reporter to hand over her cellphone. The small media contingent quickly left the scene.

Moments later‚ a Fruit and Veg truck was looted and set alight in the area.

Police vehicles and a fire truck rushed to the scene.

The street leading up to the informal settlement has since been sealed off by police.

Residents have been protesting since last night‚ demanding they be given access to a block of newly built flats.

“During our protests‚ we have never destroyed any property. We have never set alight the nearby school or the nearby clinic because we know that these things are beneficial to us‚ so we don’t know what we did for the police to use this excessive force‚” one resident earlier told TimesLIVE.

The protester was badly wounded in protests last night.

He claimed to have been shot with rubber bullets and assaulted by JMPD officers.

Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department said he was unaware of any violent scenes at the informal settlement last night.

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