The situation was still "volatile" yesterday at the scene of a housing protest which earlier shut down both carriageways of the N2, one of the major arteries leading into Cape Town, a city official said.

The situation was still "volatile" yesterday at the scene of a housing protest which earlier shut down both carriageways of the N2, one of the major arteries leading into Cape Town, a city official said.

Cape Town traffic services officer Searle Johannes said residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement set up barricades of burning tyres and logs before dawn. They threw stones at police.

Police closed off both the ingoing and outgoing carriageways of the highway alongside the settlement just after 4am, and reopened them at about 7:30am.

However, they were closed again when the protesters regrouped, and shortly before 10am, the eastbound lane was still shut, Johannes said.

Johannes said the protesters set a Blue Ribbon bakery delivery truck on fire after emptying it of its bread. - Sapa