Police on alert after brothels, drug dens set on fire

Police are closely monitoring Rosettenville in Johannesburg after residents burned down houses they believed were drug dens and brothels over the weekend.

“It’s calm for now and police will continue monitoring the area,” Captain Kay Makhubela said at the time of going to print.

On Saturday, one person was arrested for arson and public violence. Yesterday five others were nabbed in possession of drugs, he said.

“Three others who were arrested are illegal immigrants.” The City of Joburg’s member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety, Michael Sun, said at least 15 houses had been targeted and set alight.

“The gathering started peacefully and metro police were at the scene to maintain order.

“The situation became out of control when SAPS decided to disperse the people by firing rubber bullets and tear gas grenades into the crowd.

“This not only angered the protesters, but prompted community members to take the law into their own hands.” Sun said angry residents then began chanting “burn, burn, burn” and began setting suspected drug dens and brothels alight.

“I rushed to the scene when I received this information from ward councillor Michael Crichton,” he said.

“When I arrived, one house was already on fire, but two Joburg Emergency Management Services fire engines were there to extinguish it.”

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He said an elderly resident was injured by rubber bullets. “My assessment of the situation was that most of the crowd were spectators and not violent at all. Many of the elderly were unable to move away from the scene quickly and became vulnerable.

“I, together with five other councillors from the area, addressed the community and called on them to be calm and conduct themselves in an orderly manner.”

The city was “stepping up its efforts in the eradication of crime in Joburg”, Sun said, adding that the cooperation of residents was required to make it happen.

“As much as we are all in the fight against crime, we simply cannot allow residents to take the law into their own hands and risk the safety of innocent bystanders.

“I call upon the SA Police Service to investigate cases of arson and utilise its Crime Intelligence to assist the city in our fight against drugs and crime.”

 – news@citizen.co.za

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