A group of protesters gathered at the Carletonville Civic Centre from early on Monday morning. The Herald determined that the protest-ers, who were demanding jobs from the Merafong City Local Municipality and one of the mining houses in the area, did not go through the usual channels to get permission from the municipal traffic department and police for their demonstration.
At around 09:45, a group of the protesters arrived at the front entrance of the municipal building in Halite Street. Almost immediately, they began to burn tyres.
Some of the protesters then moved to the back of the building, where they blocked the entrance and exits to the staff parking lot.
On the way, they threw the contents of dustbins out into the streets around the building.
They also dragged other obstacles like concrete garden decor and tree trunks in the usually busy Ada Street and even intimidated businesses to close.
When members of the Carletonville police arrived at the scene a short while later, the protesters started pelting them with stones. A police officer was hit in the face with a half-brick. A municipal vehicle was also damaged.
The protesters ran towards the corner of Emerald Street, where a group of them continued to throw rocks at the police.
The SAPS retaliated with rubber bullets. Some of the protesters grabbed the advertisement boards from a legitimate business on the corner and used them as shields.
After causing trouble around the Carletonville taxi rank and running away from the police at times, most of the protesters were arrested. Forty-five of them, 20 of whom were women, were taken to the Carletonville police station and appeared in the Oberholzer magistrates’ court on charges of public violence on Tuesday. They did not get bail and the case was postponed to Friday. According to the police, charges of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm will also be added for the assault on the police officer.
As far as could be determined, this is the largest group of protesters arrested in the area in recent years.
The municipal traffic chief, Mr Philip Olivier, thanked everyone who helped to bring the protest under control.
