Durban - Racial tension spilt on to a Durban beach on Sunday when two groups, one Indian and the other black came to blows after an Indian child was allegedly knocked over by a black beach law-enforcement officer.
The fight, on Sunkist beach, was sparked when the child’s father shouted at and allegedly punched the officer.
Witnesses said the girl, of about 9, was injured, but this could not be confirmed. However, an ambulance was seen leaving the area.
Lifeguard Xolani Dlamini told The Mercury that the beach patrol had been attending to a complaint about drunk men playing football on the sand. Lifeguards phoned beach law enforcement officers to remove them. While the officers were busy, the child sat down on the sand behind the car.
“When the two officers were leaving, the black male officer saw the child and took her by the hand to move her out the way. The officer climbed into the car and, as he was about to drive off, an Indian man appeared saying that the child was his and he opened the door and punched him,” Dlamini said.
“He was not soft on him, but the officer did not retaliate. We ran closer, but the father continued punching the officer. That is when everyone came closer and the black members of the crowd said the father must be arrested.
“Hearing that, all the Indians came down on to the sand and took the side of the father. It then turned into a racial fight. There were Indians punching blacks and blacks punching Indians,” he said.
Dlamini said that black members of the crowd took handcuffs from the officers and handcuffed the father. They threw him into the back of the van. The girl was not injured. The officer did not reverse over her as alleged. The father’s problem was with the manner in which the child was removed from the back of the car.”
Another witness, journalist Farhana Ismael, said she had heard that a law enforcement vehicle, NDM 16704, had knocked the child over.
“The officer was trying to drive away and knocked the kid down. The father saw what had happened and he stopped the vehicle and he said: ‘You have just knocked my kid down.’ The kid got knocked on the head.
“The father pulled the man out of the vehicle and, by that time, the child was bleeding. The beach patrol then arrested the father. They took him and threw him into the back of the van and they took him away.”
Ismael said the child was taken to a beachfront emergency room where her mother asked for an ambulance.
“Then I saw the vehicle bringing back the father, but he was still handcuffed. The crowd started beating the van and shouting, saying: ‘Take the father out.’
Ismael said the beach security left with the father and the child was taken to hospital.
“SAPS came and told the crowds to calm down and they would try to find out what happened. But there was a riot here.”
Police could not say whether the child was injured.
The Mercury