1 Killed, 8 Hurt in Protest Near S. Africa School
One black man was killed and eight were injured Monday when police fired birdshot and tear gas at a crowd of 500 people in Soweto who were stoning their vehicle, the government said.
The incident took place outside a high school in Johannesburg’s main black township, where tens of thousands of students have joined in off-and-on boycotts in recent weeks to protest the presence of security forces on campus.
The government’s Bureau for Information identified the slain man as Maxim Gaga, 28. A local journalist said Gaga’s mother gave his age as 22.
Those injured, all male, ranged in age from 14 to 25, the bureau said. It gave no details on their conditions.
Local reporters said many Soweto students returned to school Monday after boycotting classes last week. But they said boycotts began Monday at all 45 schools in Tembisa, another Johannesburg-area township, and persisted in several black communities.
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