WATCH | JMPD vehicle pelted with rocks during electricity disconnection drive in Soweto

A Johannesburg metro police department (JMPD) car was damaged when a group of angry Soweto residents pelted it with stones during an illegal electricity disconnection drive in the area earlier this week.

JMPD officers accompanied police and City Power officials to Kliptown on Wednesday for the operation. 

A video doing the rounds on X showed how the small group of residents ran towards the JMPD van parked on the side of the road and then started throwing rocks at it as other community members looked on.

The department's spokesperson, Xolani Fihla, said the operation angered residents.

“The community [then] retaliated fighting against the disconnection of the illegal connections. A JMPD vehicle from the infrastructure protection unit was stoned, but none of the officers were injured,” Fihla said. 

More JMPD and public order policing unit officers were called to the scene and “managed to quell the situation using rubber bullets to disperse the volatile crowd”, Fihla said. 

A case of public violence was opened at Kliptown police station. No arrests have been made.

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