Cape Town Rocked by Protests as Poor Communities Demand Housing
- Public violence in city surges with onset of ‘election season’
- People have genuine concerns, President Ramaphosa says
South African students on their way home from school walk past a burning barricade during protests in Cape Town.
Photographer: Nic Bothma/EPA
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Protesters in Cape Town barricaded roads and torched several vehicles, the latest in a series of violent demonstrations by poor South African communities demanding access to state-funded housing and other services.
Demonstrators who gathered in Philippi suburb early Friday had been dispersed, while police were monitoring unrest in Gugulethu township and several roads had been closed, the city said. The protests appeared to be orchestrated and were almost certainly politically motivated, according to J. P. Smith, head of safety and security for the city’s mayoral committee.