More than 100 taxis and disgruntled drivers of the Mhluzi and District Taxi Association blocked Joubert Street to hand over a memorandum of demands in a continuing dispute over routes with the Nasaret and District Taxi Association.

The confrontation became so heated that police had to deploy smoke grenades to disperse the violent crowd, resulting in taxi drivers physically attacking members of the public order policing unit.

Residents have been urged to avoid the area around the Middelburg Police Station due to ongoing clashes between the police and protestors.

Video footage taken by www.mobserver.co.za on the scene, shows a number of police officers receiving fist blows in the melee.

The violence between rival associations has reached boiling point, with multiple shooting incidents that have already occurred.

R5s have been used in some of the shootings.

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