A white man was assaulted by dozens of EFF members on Friday after he moved forward through a crowd to address the party's secretary-general, Marshall Dlamini.

The man, dressed in cycling gear, appeared to address Dlamini at the climax of a rousing speech outside Brackenfell High School in Cape Town's northern suburbs.

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His intervention came as Dlamini said he was giving the police one hour to return an EFF beret he claimed was stolen when demonstrators were attacked by counter-protesters.

Police rescued the man — wearing cycling pants and a shirt which read “create not hate” — by using stun grenades to disperse the crowd.

Chaos then ensued for a third time on Friday as protesters responded to stun grenades, water cannon and teargas with a volley of rocks.

EFF leaders were forced to hide behind speakers as they ducked for cover.

The man was escorted into a police van and appeared to have been taken into safe custody.

Before stone-throwing forced media to retreat, the man told TimesLIVE he wanted to address EFF leader Julius Malema and President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Dlamini was speaking about the evils of white racism after a two-week row over a matric function attended only by white pupils at Brackenfell High.

An earlier protest at the school by the EFF ended in running battles after residents of the suburb and parents at the school started beating up the demonstrators.

TimesLIVE