A two-week-old baby has died, allegedly as a result of inhaling tear gas fired during a protest at the Foreman Road settlement in Clare Estate, Durban, on Monday morning.
Baby Jayden Khoza's father, Receive Khoza, said the infant was dead within moments of a teargas canisters having landed outside their shack.
He had run to get help.
"When I came back, some ladies had picked him up and they told me he was dead," he said.
He was speaking outside the Sydenham police station, where he and Jayden's mother, were opening a docket.
The protesters apparently marched on the police station, with baby Jayden's body.
Abahali baseMjondolo said in a statement that residents renewed their call for housing and electricity with protests last week and that Monday's protest was a continuation of this.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane said an inquest docket was being investigated by Sydenham SAPS after the two-week-old baby died on Monday.
"The cause of death is unknown at this stage and a post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death."
He said that in the early hours of Monday morning, community members embarked on an illegal protest, blockading the road with burning tyres and rubble in the Sydenham area.
"The situation is still tense and the police are still at the scene to stabilise (it). Police always use minimum force when dealing with such illegal and violent protest actions."