Johannesburg - Popcru vowed on Monday to challenge unjustified dismissals of any of its members.
“We have... noted the action taken against some of the officers who were deployed to protests, and hope the SA Police Service will act procedurally in dealing with these cases,” union spokeswoman Theto Mahlakoana said in a statement.
Mahlakoana said the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union was saddened by the deaths of protesters in Mothutlung and Roodepoort.
The union found it unfortunate that the police had to resort to extreme measures to bring protests under control.
Tshepo Babuseng, 28, was shot dead, allegedly by a policeman, after protesting residents barricaded roads with stones and burning tyres in Durban Deep, Roodepoort, on Thursday.
Four police officers were arrested on Friday for allegedly shooting Babuseng.
On Monday, people were protesting outside the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court ahead of the officers' appearance.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Friday that police fired banned shotgun rounds during a service delivery protest in Mothutlung, North West, in which four protesters were killed two weeks ago.
The SSG 12-gauge rounds, which contain pellets, were officially discontinued by the SA Police Service in 2006, and were “not supposed to be used”, he told reporters in Pretoria.
Two of those who died in the protests over water shortages on January 13 in Mothutlung were allegedly shot by the police, a third died in a fall from a moving police vehicle according to police, and a fourth person who was shot in the head died in hospital the next day.
Mthethwa said 14 police officers faced disciplinary action in connection with events at that protest.
“Six are already suspended. Others are being served with their suspension notices.”
The disciplinary process could take up to 60 days.
Sapa