Police show force in Chrissiesmeer

The concern about police conduct was again brought into the spotlight when three civilians were shot at by police officers in Chrissiesmeer last Tuesday.

The trio, whose names are known to the newspaper, were shot at in separate instances as the police dispersed a crowd of angry residents who had illegally gathered in Chrissiesmeer for protests related to service delivery.

Ms Jones (not her real name) was hit in the face by a stray rubber bullet, while she was walking out of a post office as police were shooting at the protesters who were running for cover after a brief confrontation with the police.

She has since laid an attempted murder case against the police.

Thato (not his real name) also took a rubber bullet on the cheek-bone, as another officer shot him at close range after one of the officers spotted him where he was hiding. He said chaos erupted after the police dispersed them without a warning by shooting at them, while other officers wielded sjamboks.

“I was at least a kilometre away from the initial scene where we had blocked the road and had run for cover at a house near a church, when one officer spotted me and alerted others who were closer to me. Realising the danger,

I stood up and tried to run again, but one of them came from the side and shot me in the face.

“I fell and they just kept on walking, leaving me lying helplessly until the house owner saw me and called for an ambulance,” said Thato.

Wendy in her early teens (also not her real name) and a group of other people, mostly women, were standing at the town hall, waiting for officials from the South African Social Services Agency when they saw people running past as they were chased by the police.

According to Wendy, two taxis full of police officials parked near the hall. The officers came out and started beating them with sjamboks, including women with kids on their back.

She said she ran for cover, but was also shot at close range by an officer whose gun protruded from the window as he shot her in the knee. Unable to stand up, another officer shot her from close range in the back and, just like Thato, she was also left lying and bleeding. She was later found by her father who rushed her to hospital.

Doctors in Carolina Hospital confirmed to her that a rubber bullet had hit her in the back, but it was doubtful whether the bullet that hit her knee was a rubber bullet, as it penetrated the side of her knee and went out the other side.

She has since been hospitalised and was only discharged on Monday.

She is still on crutches and the doctors have not yet been able to remove the bullet. She was told to come back again on Friday after the wound has healed.

Chrissiesmeer Police confirmed the confrontation and said this was an illegal gathering and that the police tried on numerous occasions to disperse the protestors, but were pelted with stones.
14 people were arrested and charged with public violence. Cases against 12 of them were provisionally withdrawn pending investigation.

The other two were charged with public violence, as there are statements linking them to the crime.

The police maintain that they tried everything to disperse the crowd, including negotiating with them to leave, but the crowd turned violent and the police had no choice but to use force.