The situation in Delft, Cape Town, has dragged on for days and on Monday morning, tensions have spilled onto the R300 highway that connects the N1 and N2.
Delft protests continue, weeks later
As reported by IOL News, nine people were placed under arrest on Thursday, 13 August 2020 after a large crowd of rioters descended on the Hague Sport and Recreation Centre and torched it with councillors inside.
Fortunately, according to police spokesperson Andre Traut, authorities managed to escort the councillors away from the violence.
“Authorities were in the area to prevent the community from erecting illegal dwellings on invaded land when the crowd became riotous and set a building alight and caused damage to vehicles,” he said in a statement.
What are the Delft protesters’ demands?
This is a problem the Delft public order police has been dealing with for weeks. According to Policing Forum chairperson Charles George, it’s believed the people involved in these violent protests are “backyarders who have lost income and say they can’t afford to pay rent.”
“Now they are building shacks on any land they can find. We don’t condone the violence and we are working on finding ways to end the violence,” he said.
Cape Town traffic: Latest updates on R300 congestion
On Monday morning, four days after the Hague centre was torched, the violence had not simmered down.
Images shared on social media showed how a group of rioters had created a blockade on the R300 highway, using burning tyres and rubble.
At the time of publishing this article, it had not been confirmed if law enforcement authorities managed to clear the rubble. Thus, we are to assume that the R300 South interchange, near the N2 highway, has been closed off to traffic.
Motorists have been advised to avoid the area and find alternative routes to Cape Town North as there have been incidents in the past where vehicles have been pelted with rocks.
