POLICE at Swakopmund used pepper spray yesterday to disperse hundreds of people who demonstrated outside the town’s municipal building for better service in the DRC informal settlement.
The demonstration turned violent when the protesters became frustrated with police officers who were summoned to disperse the crowds after they refused to leave the premises and opted to stay on until last night’s ordinary council meeting at 19h00.The protest was in response to the town council’s alleged procrastination when it came to the formalisation of the shantytown on the north-eastern fringe of Swakopmund.Residents of all ages marched about five kilometres from the DRC to the municipality to air their frustration and to hand over another petition to Swakopmund CEO Eckart Demasius.Demasius assured them that the matter would be addressed at last night’s council meeting, but the protestors refused to accept this as an official acknowledgment of their petition. Instead they opted to ‘occupy’ the municipal grounds until the meeting – where they expected an official response.The police were called in while the town’s managers applied for a court order to stop the protest. The protestors however stood their ground.Some residents threatened to stay at the municipality for days, even weeks, if the council did not present a tangible solution.At lunchtime, residents started arguing with officers who were ordering them to leave the premises and scuffles broke out.One man involved in a tussle with an officer was handcuffed and dragged to a police van.Protestors then stormed the police, demanding that they let the man go. Some ran toward the van, shouting their dissatisfaction and making threats, and the police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd.’You arrest one member, come and arrest us all then. We will go to court, but we will be back here. We do not want to fight or break down. We are protesting peacefully,’ another DRC resident shouted through a megaphone.The scuffle eventually stopped and the protestors moved away from the building to the other side of the parking lot. Late in the afternoon tne police were still keeping an eye on the situation.The arrested man was taken to the Mondesa police station, but was later released without being charged.Last weekend DRC residents demanded that the council give every resident a cheap, serviced erf – which they said they would pay for. They gave the council 72 hours to respond to this demand, but the council did not, and this led to the protest yesterday.
