Police opened fire on people resisting eviction from newly-built homes at Delft on the Cape Flats, activists said yesterday.
Police opened fire on people resisting eviction from newly-built homes at Delft on the Cape Flats, activists said yesterday.
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign said there was "pandemonium" at the scene, and that 20 people were injured in the shooting.
Police spokesman Superintendent Andre Traut said police had been obliged to use "some sort of force" after the illegal occupants of the houses became violent and threw stones at police and personnel of the sheriff of the court.
"They prevented the sheriff of the court personnel from executing the eviction order and on those grounds the police were forced to act," he said.
A "small amount" of rubber bullets and stun grenades were used.
He said seven people sustained minor injuries as a result of the shooting, all of whom were treated on the scene by emergency services personnel.
The campaign said that private security guards and police moved on site early in the morning to evict more than 1000 people who illegally occupied the houses.
This followed a Cape high court judge's rejection on Monday afternoon of an application by the occupants for leave to appeal against an eviction order. - Sapa
Cops open fire on Cape Flats
Police opened fire on people resisting eviction from newly-built homes at Delft on the Cape Flats, activists said yesterday.
Police opened fire on people resisting eviction from newly-built homes at Delft on the Cape Flats, activists said yesterday.
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign said there was "pandemonium" at the scene, and that 20 people were injured in the shooting.
Police spokesman Superintendent Andre Traut said police had been obliged to use "some sort of force" after the illegal occupants of the houses became violent and threw stones at police and personnel of the sheriff of the court.
"They prevented the sheriff of the court personnel from executing the eviction order and on those grounds the police were forced to act," he said.
A "small amount" of rubber bullets and stun grenades were used.
He said seven people sustained minor injuries as a result of the shooting, all of whom were treated on the scene by emergency services personnel.
The campaign said that private security guards and police moved on site early in the morning to evict more than 1000 people who illegally occupied the houses.
This followed a Cape high court judge's rejection on Monday afternoon of an application by the occupants for leave to appeal against an eviction order. - Sapa
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