Grabouw protesters stone cars

Residents of the Princess informal settlement near Roodepoort protest on Albertina Sisulu Road (Formerly Main Reef Road).Residents are protesting a lack of housing and service delivery in the area. Picture: Wesley Fester 210114

Residents of the Princess informal settlement near Roodepoort protest on Albertina Sisulu Road (Formerly Main Reef Road).Residents are protesting a lack of housing and service delivery in the area. Picture: Wesley Fester 210114

Published Sep 15, 2014

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Cape Town - Protesters in Grabouw threw stones at cars stuck in a traffic jam on the N2 from Cape Town on Monday afternoon, police said.

“We have a lot of police here and we are now redirecting the vehicles,” Lt-Col Raldene Atson said.

She said police were monitoring the situation.

Earlier, police fired rubber bullets and used teargas to disperse more than 1000 people protesting over service delivery at the Grabouw municipal offices.

The rubber bullets were fired when protesters marching in Ou Kaapse Weg started throwing stones at police.

A section of the N2 passing the town had to be closed for several hours after cars were stoned.

Oil was poured on the highway and later rocks and burning tyres were used to block access to the town.

The N2 was closed at Sir Lowry's Pass, Gordon's Bay and close to Bot River.

The protesters gathered in Gaffley Street and marched to the municipal offices in Pineview to hand over a memorandum listing their grievances.

The public order policing unit was called in with Nyalas and water cannons to contain the crowd.

Theewaterskloof mayor Chris Punt arrived from Caledon to receive the memorandum.

After handing over the memorandum and being addressed by several community leaders, the crowd left the municipal offices. They started marching back to the townships and throwing stones.

The protest is the second in recent weeks. Residents were not satisfied with the response to a list of grievances handed over to deputy mayor Mlulami Tshaka and town manager Anton Liebenberg on August 20.

John Michels, leader of the Grabouw Civics Organisation, then warned that the N2 would be blocked every weekend until their demands were met.

Grievances included in the memorandum were lack of housing, poor and expensive electricity supply and bad road conditions.

Sapa

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