Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign

Yesterday we reported that the police tried to illegally ban our mass protest against the new Gugulethu Square Mall. After failing to ban our protest, they shot at us even though we were peaceful and the media saw that we were peaceful. Since then, a few details have emerged:

1. They brought in an entirely new police team on Thursday. From Monday through to Wednesday, Captain Brink and his team from the Gugulethu SAPS was accompanying us and protecting us during our march and peaceful protest against the mall. On Thursday, Captain Brink and his team was removed from working with us. Instead, a police team from Bellville South was brought in. These police officers were aggressive from the very beginning. They refused to talk to us. They refused to work with us. Instead the worked against us.
2. When we left the mall site at that morning after staging our protest, the police followed us. As we were crossing NY1 main road, they ordered us to disperse or they will shoot. Instead, we staged a civil disobediance sit-in on NY1. We sat right down on the road and continued our peaceful protest. Police immediately opened fire on us in full view of other journalists. Many people were shot with rubber bullets including many women and older people. Read the rest of this entry »