Editors Note: This article was submitted to The Burning Spear by the Visit Palestine email newsletter.
Since the lock down, there are repeated looting and fights against security forces in South Africa. In the following we want to give a short overview of the incidents of the last days.
In the neighborhood of Boikhutso in Lichtenburg in the central north of the country clashes between residents and police forces broke out after a child was hit by a police car and died. The masses attacked the police with stones and torched two police vehicles and an ambulance. A supermarket was also looted. At least three policemen were injured during the fights.
In Mitchell’s Plain, a suburb of Cape Town, fights broke out between police and residents, who allegedly intended to loot a food delivery truck. The people hurled stones on the security forces, who used rubber bullets and live ammunition to disperse the crowd. We already reported more than a month ago about protest and unrest over food in the neighborhood of Mitchell’s Plain.
In Bishop Lavis, another shanty town of Cape Town, a food delivery truck was looted. Angry and hungry people, especially youth, stopped the truck and confiscated the goods. The deployed police forces used rubber bullets to enforce the retreat of the masses.
These incidents took place within four days. This shows that the masses would rather fight and perhaps die than starve.