The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Khehla John Sitole has condemned the attack by protesters on the SAPS Public Order Police (POP) officers yesterday.
Members of the POP unit attended to a complaint at a biscuit company in Kimberly Avenue in Nancefield, yesterday.
According to General Sithole, approximately 200 protesting workers barricaded the entrance to the company, preventing the staff and security from leaving the premises.
It is alleged that the protest started because workers are demanding to be reinstated due to unfair dismissals.
The protesters refused to heed calls from the police to disperse, which compelled the POP unit to disperse them using minimum force.
After a while, they regrouped along Stockwell Street and started stoning passing vehicles.
The POP members responded again, but this time they were pelted with stones and a petrol bomb was thrown at a police Nyala vehicle, setting it ablaze.
At least three POP members sustained leg injuries from the stone-throwing. Two members were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
“While we respect the rights of people to protest, as it is enshrined in the Constitution, all forms of violence should be condemned in the strongest possible way by all sectors of society. The behaviour by the protesters today has done nothing more than to undermine the authority of the State,” said General Sitole.
The general insists that this type of behaviour shall not be tolerated and those responsible will be held to account in terms of the law. They will be identified and brought to book.
Anyone who has any information may call the SAPS Crime Stop number 086 00 10111. Callers may remain anonymous and all information will be treated with the strictest confidence.
SAPS ARMOURED VEHICLE – NYALA PETROL BOMBED : CAVENDISH STR. NANCEFIELD. JHB. GP. pic.twitter.com/is85Akt7Rq
— REZA (@crimeairnetwork) August 14, 2018
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