Reiger Park residents storm police station, demand release of arrested protesters

Angry residents of Reiger Park, on the East Rand are gathered outside the Reiger Park police station, demanding the release of the people they claim were arrested during this morning’s service delivery protest in the township.

The leaders of the community are arguing with police inside the station, with the mass of people who crowded the street outside shouting abuse and obscenities at officers, Boksburg Advertiser reported.

Reiger Park police spokesperson Sergeant Mashudu Phathela, police arrested one person aged 25 years during the protest, and he has been charged with public violence.

Earlier on, thousands of Reiger Park residents barricaded streets with stones and burning tyres in protest against service delivery and housing issues in the township.

READ MORE: Reiger Park protests spill over to civic centre

They then marched to the Boksburg Civic Centre to deliver a memorandum of complaints to the municipality.

Large EMPD and police contingents are now monitoring the situation at the police station.

Fearing that they might be attacked and their businesses looted, business operators in the Boksburg CBD were forced to temporarily close their businesses between 9am and 11.30am due to the protest action.

This came when thousands of Reiger Park residents marched through the streets of the CBD on their way to the Boksburg Civic Centre to deliver a memorandum of complaints to the municipality.

Shops, street vendor, offices and banks were forced to close as the protesters marched to the civic centre.

Although the marchers were peaceful and didn’t attack anyone during the march, large contingents of SAPS and EMPD officers were keeping an eye on the tense atmosphere to prevent any illegal activity.

– Caxton News Service

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