SA police clash with township protesters

CAPE TOWN – South African police on Wednesday fired rubber bullets to disperse some 300 protesters who blocked roads and burned tyres in a township near Cape Town, the latest in a series of riots over housing, a police spokesman said.

Three protesters were arrested and charged with inciting public violence while two policemen and two civilians were injured in clashes at De Doorns township, about 140 kilometres north-east of Cape Town, said police spokesman Randall Stoffels. A fourth person was arrested in a separate demonstration near the sprawling township of Khayelitsha outside Cape Town where 80 people blocked a road and threw stones at police.The protesters carried banners in Khayelitsha that read “No Land, No House, No Vote!”, referring to a threat to boycott local government elections scheduled to be held before March next year.Demonstrators said they were angry at local officials who they accused of lending a deaf ear to their demands for better housing.”If it means we must make this country ungovernable, we will do so until they listen to our demands,” said community spokesman Mziwonke Poni shortly before police arrested him near a major highway that leads into the city centre.”They will clean today, we will come tomorrow,” shouted one demonstrator after police removed burning tyres from the highway to allow traffic to move on.Protesters carried banners that read “No Land, No House, No Vote!”, referring to a threat to boycott local government elections scheduled to be held before March next year.Some 7,35 million people live in shacks in South Africa’s sprawling suburban townships that sprang up during the apartheid years and are becoming increasingly impatient with the failure of President Thabo Mbeki’s government to provide the poor with housing.Police last month used tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to disperse angry protesters in a string of township riots that rocked South Africa.- Nampa-AFPA fourth person was arrested in a separate demonstration near the sprawling township of Khayelitsha outside Cape Town where 80 people blocked a road and threw stones at police.The protesters carried banners in Khayelitsha that read “No Land, No House, No Vote!”, referring to a threat to boycott local government elections scheduled to be held before March next year.Demonstrators said they were angry at local officials who they accused of lending a deaf ear to their demands for better housing.”If it means we must make this country ungovernable, we will do so until they listen to our demands,” said community spokesman Mziwonke Poni shortly before police arrested him near a major highway that leads into the city centre.”They will clean today, we will come tomorrow,” shouted one demonstrator after police removed burning tyres from the highway to allow traffic to move on.Protesters carried banners that read “No Land, No House, No Vote!”, referring to a threat to boycott local government elections scheduled to be held before March next year.Some 7,35 million people live in shacks in South Africa’s sprawling suburban townships that sprang up during the apartheid years and are becoming increasingly impatient with the failure of President Thabo Mbeki’s government to provide the poor with housing.Police last month used tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to disperse angry protesters in a string of township riots that rocked South Africa.- Nampa-AFP