[Watch – Part 2] Call of Duty: Mob turns its sights on drug houses in CBD
The second part of 'Red Monday' captured in an eyewitness account.
Smoke was in the air, people were yelling, the sound of guns being cocked echoed off the walls of the narrow passageways on Sivewright Street – this was war.
The intersection of Luipaard Street and Paardekraal Drive is about 50 metres across, and it was filled to the brim with dancing protesters. They had passed the Krugersdorp Police Station, Town Hall, various car dealers, fast food outlets and shops without touching them. They went straight to the place they believed drugs were being sold.
In the direction of Sivewright Street, police officers were shooting at people in the street. In the direction of Kagiso, protesters were lined up on the railway bridge, throwing rocks onto cars. In the direction of the Krugersdorp CBD, smoke rose from torched buildings thought to be drug houses. And in the direction of President Square, police vehicles from all over the West Rand stood lined up, ready to defend the community.
Read Part 1 here: [Part 1] Call of Duty: Krugersdorp’s cops versus Munsieville mob
Rat-tat-tat … guns are fired, then reloaded, and into the ravaged street runs a group of men in blue – along with the riot van as protection and cover. In the distance, civilians run as rubber bullets fly past them.
Photo: Bianca Pindral.
The riot van dodged around the trolley bins in the middle of the road and continued to push forward.
Around a corner, a cop cuffed a protester, loaded him into a police van and continued to shoot at the rebelling runners.
By noon on ‘Red Monday’, the police had run out of ammunition, and the protesters were tired. The heat of the sun was too much to handle and for a while it was quiet. It was as if everyone was taking a few minutes to regroup.
The journalists, who had been running around in the sun with both the police and the protesters to document the day’s events, took shelter at McDonald’s. The staff had closed the shop, but used one of their drive-through windows as a makeshift tuck-shop, selling food to the journalists. The manager then called the journalists inside and told them their food for the day was free of charge, and handed their money back to them – a welcome gift.
Photo: Bianca Pindral.
Then the roar of an engine approached – the water cannon van had left Munsieville and come to Sivewright to assist.
Read more: #KrugersdorpWarOnDrugs the chaos in photos and videos
They launched torpedoes of water towards the crowd and forced them to surrender and go home.
Photo: Bianca Pindral.
By 5pm, every protester and every police officer had left the street. All became calm – and the morning thereafter everything was still calm.
Only time will tell if the rioting has achieved its aim, or if the protesters would return to burn down more drug houses.
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