A resident of the Princess Park informal settlement on Thursday told Times Media that they were unapologetic about attacking a truck and looting it of its contents.

“It is the only way that government will hear us. For every war‚ there are casualties‚” the man said.

A group of protestors armed with bottles of petrol and matches on Thursday attacked trucks passing by the Main Reef road.

Some truck drivers escaped unharmed. One of them drove straight through the scene of burning of tyres.

Another got out of his truck with his arms raised as he showed the protestors that his truck was empty. He was let go.

A truck containing fruit and vegetables destined for Botswana was not so fortunate.

The truck was looted and set alight.

The driver of the truck was trying to reverse from scene when the protestors attacked him.

He stood at at the scene‚ visibly shaken and later took a phone call‚ telling his employer what had happened.

He gave police his statement.

He had lost his own cellphone and papers when the front of his truck was set alight.

“I saw when they also wanted to beat you up earlier but‚ well‚ violence has to be used if we want to be heard‚” the protestor told a Times Media journalist.

He was standing inside a business premises close to the scene where the truck had been looted and he watched on as a police patrolled the informal settlements.

Shots which were believed to be rubber bullets could be heard inside the informal settlement.

Some police officers emerged from the settlement carrying large bags of cabbages which had been looted.

Residents have been protesting for service delivery for years.

Their protests flared up again on Wednesday night‚ as the group demanded that they be given access to a block of newly built flats just a stone’s throw from the informal settlement.

At least one protestor was badly wounded during the renewed protests.

He claimed to have been shot with rubber bullets at close range‚ hit with the butt of the gun in the eye and assaulted by JMPD officers.

The protestors have‚ however‚ vowed to continue their actions until their demands are met.

Main Reef road‚ a busy road which runs through the informal settlement was on Thursday littered with debris of burining tyres and tree stumps.

A nearby sidewalk had been stripped of the bricks used to pave it and those bricks had been placed in the middle of the road.

Police were still monitoring the area on Thursday evening.

No arrests had been made.

— TMG Digital