“I have not seen violence like this since the 1980s when I was a policeman,” said IPSS Security Operations boss, Dylan Meyrick who has been on the ground in Isithebe since the start of the uprising 48 hours ago.
As soon as night fell, radicals were back with vengeance, petrol bombing and looting factories and businesses.
The violence escalated to a new high when protesters fired live rounds at fire fighters who were dousing the flames.
“This is anarchy! Four more factories were petrol bombed in the early hours of the morning. The Gomma Gomma furniture factory was totally destroyed, Nu Lounge partially destroyed and two more factories were saved from too much damage,” said Meyrick.
The protesters caused further havoc when they trashed factory offices at Distinctive Choice and Oyster Plastics.
This morning at about 8am, the mob made their way to the Inyoni police station to demand the release of the 120 people who were arrested yesterday.
Firefighters, paramedics, policemen and security forces have had very little or no sleep since the outbreak of the violence, especially Mandeni’s small team of fire fighters who are too few in number to work shifts.
“Apparently there will be a community meeting tomorrow to try and sort out the problem. That still does not help us last night,” said an exhausted Meyric who has had no more than one and a half hours sleep since Monday night.
Yesterday IPSS Security Operations kept policemen and firefighters fed. But with even the Sasol garage closed this morning so finding food will be a challenge.
WATCH: Factories burning last night.
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