ANA reports that the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has added its voice to the condemnation of Thursday's attack by an alleged group of foreign national shop owners on police in Johannesburg.  

“Each and every country has got its laws and by-laws accordingly, and in line with the Constitution, police are there to maintain law and order.  Their role is to uphold these laws and the role of citizens, whether of local or foreign origin, is to abide by the stipulated laws,” the union said.  It added:  “We strongly feel that it was co-ordinated and planned to detail, partly aimed at provoking and portraying police to be brutal and incompetent.  We commend our members for their act of withdrawing from what was clearly a volatile situation that could have led to the unfortunate loss of lives or injuries.  This was a demonstration of courage and sensibility on their part.”  Popcru “categorically” cautioned the African Diaspora Forum’s reckless utterances which sought to suggest that the prevention of criminal activity was victimisation.  On Friday, the justice, crime prevention, and security cluster of ministers said government viewed the attack as an attack on the state.  Ministers in the cluster said the attacks, which saw shop owners stone police officers and vehicles during a raid to seize counterfeit goods being sold at outlets, would not go unpunished.

• Read the full original of the above report at Pretoria News
• Read too, Traders explain why they attacked cops, at SowetanLive

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