Unrest in Fochville Carltonville continues: black foreigners targeted by thousands of shop-looters
August 7, 2013 Gauteng police are monitoring violent service delivery protests in Fochville, near Carletonville night and day.
Residents in the area have launched protests over a housing backlog. On the second day of protests, police said 35 people were arrested and two people injured, including a police station commander.
“We are monitoring a service delivery protest which erupted yesterday in the early hours of the morning.
The protesters went into schools and let the children out in order to mobilise and the children were stoning vehicles as well as the police officers,who had come to quell the situation,” Gauteng police spokeswoman Katlego Mogale said.
“It continued throughout the night where several spaza shops were looted.” Dozens of foreign shop-owners had to flee the area as community members went on the rampage, blockading roads, stoning cars and looting shops.
Residents torched cars and threw petrol bombs at officers. Rubber bullets were fired and a police water cannon used to extinguish fires.
The violence escalated later and that is when we called the police and they fetched us from there. Another shop owner was beaten by the mob and he was injured. They chased him down the street and they hit him with a rock,” foreign shop-owner Musa Ibrahim said.
Residents also targeted local ANC- councillors’ houses, burning down several houses and a liquor store.
“Today early in the morning they burnt the houses of the council. It is about three houses of the councillors representing the ANC,” member of the provincial legislature Nompi Nhlapho said.
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