Residents of Alexandra in Johannesburg shut down roads on Wednesday over what they say is poor service delivery and a lack of development in the area.
Protesters in the #AlexTotalShutdown campaign blocked roads with rocks and burning tyres. They also barricaded access to the Marlboro Gautrain station.
Passengers at the Gautrain station had to be sneaked out in the morning.
"It is all about service delivery. The municipality does not attend to our problems," said Thandiwe Mthombeni, one of the organisers of the protests.
"We’ve been logging calls to the municipality regarding illegal structures in our neighbourhood and nothing has happened. We've called the police and officials to help stop people from building anywhere they like - but nobody heard our cry."
On Wednesday morning, two suspected "ring leaders" were arrested.
Around noon, the protesters refused to meet Michael Sun, the Johannesburg mayoral committee member responsible for public safety. Sun claimed the residents told him he was not relevant enough to address them.
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