The protestors blocked the road with burning tyres and rubble, allegedly stoned police and had to be dispersed with stun grenades before the R102 could be reopened.
The protestors, aged between 18 and 65, are facing charges of public violence at the KwaDukuza Magistrates Court this morning.
In a statement SAPS spokesperson Colonel Jay Naicker said that at 6am on Tuesday police were called out to Groutville where about 300 members of the community embarked on protest action.
“Police requested the demonstrators move out of the road but they refused to do so and began stoning police. Police eventually dispersed the protesters with stun grenades and opened the road to motorists.
“On a daily basis members of the SAPS are required to police a number of protest marches and picketing in the province of KZN. This places a great strain on police resources and forces us to remove police officers from Crime Prevention Operations to police these protest actions due to the lawlessness that prevails at some of these protest activities.”
The KZN Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni once again condemned the actions of protesters and promised to continue dealing firmly with unlawful protest action.
“If individuals commit crimes during protect actions they will be arrested immediately if it is possible. Investigative aids will to be utilised to gather evidence during such protect activities to enable detectives to open cases and effect arrests at a later stage should it is not be possible to effect immediate arrests,” said Ngobeni.
