Scores of armed police in battle gear stormed a church in the Cape Town city centre on Thursday afternoon to remove hundreds of refugees who had been holed up there for months.

Public order police broke down the front and rear doors at Central Methodist Church in Greenmarket Square.

Using specialised equipment, it took them about three minutes to demolish the old wooden door at the main entrance.

They then used a sledgehammer to shatter an internal glass door and ran into the church, shouting at the refugees to get down.

No shots were fired, and no-one appeared to have been injured in the assault.

Refugees from inside the church were led out, carrying bundles of their belongings, into a fleet of Golden Arrow buses and police vehicles.

Children were traumatised and crying and adults argued with police, afraid they would be separated from family members.

It was not immediately clear where the refugees were being taken, though the city council and public works department said on Tuesday that marquees were being set up at Paint City, in Bellville, and on land in Voortrekker Road, Maitland.

This is where the refugees would be taken for the rest of the 21-day Covid-19 lockdown, which enters its second week on Friday.

This is a developing story.