'We want to speak to Ramaphosa': Teargas, running battles at G20 Summit as MK party clashes with SAPS
Umkhonto we Sizwe members and Operation Dudula activists are contained by police near the G20 Leaders’ Summit venue in Johannesburg on Saturday morning.
Image: Screengrab/ SABC
Members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) on Saturday morning pushed back a group of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) members and Operation Dudula activists who had gathered near the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg, demanding to speak to President Cyril Ramaphosa and world leaders attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
A leader of the group, wearing MK party regalia, told journalists they had been restricted to an area about a kilometre from the summit venue.
“The whole point of picketing is to ensure that we send a strong message to the dignitaries attending the G20,” the protest leader said. “The situation is that we are placed almost a kilometre away from the Nasrec Expo Centre, whereas Section 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa allows us to protest — to picket at least 100 meters away.”
The leader said the group was frustrated that they were confined to a public area far from the international event.
“Here we are placed in front of ordinary traffic, people going to Southgate Mall. It is not them we want to talk to. The people we want to talk to are President Ramaphosa and all the dignitaries, the world leaders that are attending the G20 Summit. What SAPS is doing is actually unfair, and they are depriving us of our constitutional rights,” he said.
The SABC reported that SAPS had used teargas to disperse the protesters near the G20 Summit venue.
Operation Dudula activists who joined the demonstration said they were prepared to face arrest if necessary.
“If they want to shoot us, they must shoot us,” one Dudula activist insisted.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
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