HUNDREDS of taxi owners and drivers joined angry Warwick Triangle traders and brought mid-morning transport in Durban to a standstill yesterday.

Taxi operations returned to normal in the afternoon.

Warwick Triangle market traders are demanding that development of the area be intensified.

The protestors marched to the city hall to hand over a memorandum to force other traders who are against the development of the area to back down.

Development of the area has split the traders into two opposing groups.

One group of traders has welcomed the development of the Warwick Junction, while the other is completely opposed to construction of the new mall.

The traders who are opposed to the relocation of the 100-year-old morning market have taken the municipality to court. They are refusing to move, temporarily, away from the historic site.

Construction of the new mall is on hold while the court still has decide on the issue.

Yesterday angry taxi drivers said they supported development of the new mall because they had been promised a "new taxi rank with decent facilities".

Spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal Taxi Alliance, Yusuf Khaliva, said: "To show our support for the new development, we agreed to a temporary move to make way for the construction of a flyover freeway.

"We were asked to use space on the side of the road until we were allocated decent rank, but the city police are issuing us with fines for obstruction.

"We have been operating on the side of the road for some months. For that we have become victims of the city's ruthless metro police."

Khaliva said they supported development of the Warwick Junction "because we will get a new taxi rank with proper, modern facilities as promised," he said.

The traders have been holding marches and protestsalmost every week for several months.

They have promised to continue with protest action until the area is developed.