S. African Police Kill 4 Blacks, Hurt 16 in Riot

Police said Thursday that they killed four blacks and wounded 16 in a riot east of Johannesburg and soldiers killed another black in a separate incident.

At least 15 blacks have been killed since a state of emergency took effect Sunday. Police say violence is declining, citing the almost 500 blacks previously killed in the months of riots, student and worker strikes, consumer boycotts and protest meetings in black communities.

Officials, meanwhile, reported that detentions in the first five days of the state of emergency rose to 815.

Unofficial reports said the four blacks were killed when police at the black township of Daveyton opened fire with shotguns and rifles after mourners allegedly threw stones after a funeral for riot victims.

Girl, 16, a Victim

A 16-year-old girl, whose grandmother said was attending her first such funeral, another woman and two men were reportedly killed.

“We were marching along on our way from the cemetery when I heard shots and saw people scattering in all directions,” said Elizabeth Mjoli, a mourner. I was among those who ran away. I don’t know if anybody died on the spot but I saw injured people being taken into vans that had earlier carried mourners.”

Funerals for riot victims are charged with emotion, draw large crowds and frequently are flash points of violence.

National police headquarters said a soldier fired one rifle round and killed a 16-year-old youth after blacks stoned an army vehicle in eastern Cape province.

More Detentions Suspected

Despite official reports listing 815 detentions under the state of emergency, university professor David Webster, a member of the Detainees’ Parents Support Committee, said he believes that about 1,000 people have been seized.

Webster said the committee’s information from around the country indicated that police lists of detentions are often late and incomplete. He said many blacks reported that relatives or friends are missing but were unable to obtain police confirmation that they had been detained.

He said it was clear that police were trying to crush black township civic associations and youth groups that have led the black resistance by “taking everybody they know who belongs to these organizations, by rounding up rank-and-file members.”

Unofficial sources said scores of teen-agers were rounded up Thursday morning in Alexandra, on the edge of Johannesburg. Police said they could not immediately comment, but witnesses said they saw an unusually large number of police, soldiers and armored cars in the township.

Children Reported Held

Michael Beea, chairman of the township civic association, estimated that more than 400 people had been detained in Alexandra alone. He said some of those detained were children, 8 to 12 years old, whose apparent offense was singing freedom songs.

Police listed only five cases of arson and about the same number of stone-throwing incidents around the country late Wednesday and Thursday morning. Emergency regulations and the refusal of police to provide details of rioting made it difficult to obtain a clear picture.

Under emergency regulations, police can bar reporters and certain other categories of people from entering a township, impose curfews and exercise wide powers of arrest without warrants.