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 Cops raid King of Bling's club
    November 30 2009 at 09:57AM Get IOL on your
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By Lesego Masemola

Three people were injured when police raided a popular nightclub owned by alleged crime kingpin William "Mashobane" Mbatha, also known as "King of Bling", in Atteridgeville at the weekend.

A chef, a DJ and another patron were among hundreds of people at Ramsquare Café on Friday night when the incident happened.

Police who were apparently on a weekend crime prevention operation in the township allegedly attacked patrons by firing stun grenades and rubber bullets.

Some of the rubber bullets hit a chef and a DJ
Some of the rubber bullets hit a chef and a DJ from a community radio station.
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Other patrons, including women, were allegedly slapped and kicked around by heavily armed police officers.

One patron sustained a cut above his eye after allegedly being assaulted.

Reliving what has been described as "police brutality", Mbatha's close friend Ditlhakiso Mothabela accused police of specifically targeting the club and attacking and terrorising them.

"They came in many cars, including three vans and two police trucks. It was like a Swat team from the movies and they just came in there and made us lie on the floor.

'It was really scary and traumatising'
"But before they attacked us, there were three loud noises from stun grenades.

"It was horrible... everybody was screaming and that is when I ran out of the club for cover," he said.

Mothabela was arrested on a charge of "interfering" (in a police operation) and was released on warning on Saturday night.

He was allegedly caught taking pictures of what was happening inside the club. He is due to appear in the Atteridgeville Magistrate's Court tomorrow and his camera has since been confiscated by police.

Two other people, including the café's manager, were detained and released in the early hours of Saturday morning, apparently after not being charged.


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Showing page 1 of 1 comment pages, 5 total comments
10 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
Ah.... Shades of the Stellenbosch raid. I assume the National Intervention Unit was the one causing the problems? The article did not specific, but throwing stun grenades sounds about right for them.... NOT the normal SAP. Anyways... Welcome to South Africa. Can't wait for this to happen to some 2010 "tourists".
10 Weeks ago mokone wrote :
The evil that man does lives after them, its time for him to pay for his evil deeds
10 Weeks ago law. wrote :
Well done cops. Close the place down if it is 'illegal' and leave it if all is above board.
10 Weeks ago Nkalakatha wrote :
Well, it was a very interesting weekend...seems like a lot of people got "klapped" for whatever reasons....eish !!
10 Weeks ago Dan wrote :
Lesson 1: You live by the sword, you die by the sword.
Lesson 2: Dont mess with sars, or the cops, you might live to regret it.
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