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Police fire rubber bullets at crowd outside Youth Day event, injuring 67

Details

newsDaily Maverick reports that the SA Police Service (SAPS) has been accused of repeating the actions of the apartheid government after Potchefstroom police in North West fired rubber bullets at a crowd outside North West University’s Rag Farm Stadium, where the Youth Day commemorative event was held.

“It is only fitting that, since it’s June 16 that they would treat us like this. They were so brutal, they shot at us,” claimed Daniel “Mokwena” Letsie, a community leader in the Informal Settlements Committee, a grassroots organisation in Potchefstroom. His statement came only hours after police fired rubber bullets at residents who were marching to the stadium where Deputy President Paul Mashatile and several high-ranking government officials gathered for the National Youth Day commemorative event. The Informal Settlements Committee and Solidarity Action Committee Collective released a joint statement on Monday, claiming that more than 67 people had been injured. Earlier, several news reports circulated that police using rubber bullets had dispersed a group of protesters, but Mokwena said that the march was not a protest. “The reason we went there was because we wanted to make the deputy president aware of the crisis we are living in here in Potchefstroom. We were amazed … we were walking peacefully,” Mokwena claimed. He said that when they were about 1km from the stadium, the police opened fire on them. The community leader alleged that those injured were denied medical care and that the police threatened to arrest the injured if they sought medical attention at any of the local clinics. Mashatile’s spokesperson Keith Khoza said they were not aware of the incident.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lerato Mutsila at Daily Maverick


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