News24 reports that Free State provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Moeketsi Sempe, advised that a shutdown operation has been initiated following an attack on two police officers on Saturday.  

A 41-year-old officer was injured during an attack by a group of mineworkers who were protesting at Sibanye’s mine in Theunissen.  The officer and a colleague were responding after protesters pelted buses transporting workers with stones.  They arrested two people and put them in a police van and were then ambushed by about ten mineworkers.  "One member managed to escape unharmed but the other one, a 41-year-old female constable, was dragged out of the vehicle, assaulted and hacked in the arms with a panga, then robbed of her firearm and a video camera," police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele indicated.  The mineworkers damaged the police van and freed the arrested suspects before fleeing the scene.  "I have initiated a total shutdown operation by various police units to trace and bring to book those responsible for the attack on our members," said Sempe.

• Read the full original report by Sesona Ngqakamba at News24

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