- Hospitality industry protesters were dispersed by police
outside the gates of Parliament. - Stun grenades and water cannons were used.
- A photographer covering the event said the march
was peaceful. Numbers grew to about 200.
Stun grenades and water cannons were used to disperse protesters marching to raise awareness about the plight of the hospitality industry outside Parliament on Friday.
People from various hospitality or restaurant establishments marched in Roeland and Plein Streets on Friday to raise awareness about the industry’s declining revenues amid the Covid-19 lockdown.
Some held signs with the words “#JobsSaveLives” and “#ServeUsPlease” on them.
A photographer covering the event, Shavan Rahim, told News24 that the crowd probably grew to around 200 people before they were dispersed by public order police.
Rahim said the event was very peaceful, but that police officers he had spoken to, while they admitted they didn’t enjoy using stun grenades, said they were under strict instruction to disperse the crowd.
“It was very peaceful. Everybody had masks on. It was all peaceful,” said Rahim.
GroundUp photographer Ashraf Hendricks captured on video the moment that water cannons and stun grenades were used.
Restaurants Association of South Africa (RASA) CEO Wendy Alberts told News24 that the march was not organised by the association.
They held a separate event in Johannesburg on Wednesday, where a memorandum of the sector’s pleas was handed over to Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane. She did not know the circumstances of the event, why the crowd was dispersed or whether it was deemed a gathering.
News24 reporter Murray Williams is on the scene.
More to follow.
