Fury+as+police+fire+at+march,+Anton+Ferreira,+The+Times



=Fury as police fire at march=


 * Anton Ferreira, The Times, Johannesburg, 1 February 2008**

//Stun grenades, rubber bullets disperse workers//

Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades yesterday in clashes with striking municipal workers near the Cape Town city centre.

Union officials said 10 of their members were wounded, but police said they knew of no casualties.

Police spokeswoman Bernadine Steyn said about 1000 members of the SA Municipal Workers Union took part in the protest against Cape Town council restructuring.

“They overturned rubbish bins and threw stones at police,” she said. “Police fired three stun grenades as well as rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.”

Steyn said three people were arrested for public violence.

But Samwu official Lance Veotte said police sparked the violence when the marchers were “out of the public eye”.

“They threw a stun grenade at us,“ Veotte said.

“That’s when some members threw rocks.”

He accused police of firing rubber bullets and claimed one of the injured had been taken to hospital.

“Workers showed huge anger at the way the city has treated them,” Veotte said. He said mayor Helen Zille’s refusal to accept a memorandum from the marchers had fuelled their frustration.

A Samwu statement said members were striking because the city “has made the employment relationship intolerable through its unilateral restructuring process”.

“The system has reduced our employment relationship to masters and slaves,” Samwu said.

Zille told the council on Wednesday that it was “a pity” the union had decided to strike over restructuring when there had been an opportunity to lodge objections.

Samwu members plan to stay away from work today and hold pickets on Monday.


 * From: http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=696316**

276 words