1 Dead, 7 Hurt in S. Africa Racial Clashes

Police fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse looters on a beach reserved for blacks, and a black mob damaged a train and killed an Indian youth during racial violence Thursday on the Indian Ocean coast.

Seven blacks were injured by the birdshot, according to a police statement issued about 10 hours after the violence began Thursday on Clover Leaf Beach, an area set aside for blacks near Indian beaches in Durban.

Witnesses reported that about 500 blacks were involved in daylong outbreaks with about 100 Indian sunbathers on two adjoining beaches. The crowds surged back and forth along the beaches.

Flies Add to Tension

An estimated 20,000 people were on the blacks’ beach, and the Indian beaches were packed as temperatures in the 80s brought out huge holiday crowds. Swarms of bluebottle flies added to the tension, and 300 people were reported treated for stings.

One report suggested the trouble began when blacks carrying banners arrived at Sunkist, an Indian beach, but there was no confirmation of that.

The police statement said that police “were forced to use birdshot to disperse a mob which had repeatedly robbed an ice cream kiosk at a Durban beach.” Witnesses said the birdshot was fired at Clover Leaf Beach.

Four robberies or attempted lootings occurred at the kiosk during the day, the statement said. “Police first used (tear gas) in an attempt to disperse the crowds who then began stoning the police.”

3 Snack Stands Looted

Other sources who spoke on condition of anonymity reported that at least three snack stands at the black and the Indian beaches were looted during the day and one was demolished.

A police helicopter was used to spot trouble on the beaches as about 500 soldiers, city police and South African police patrolled the area in armored vehicles and on foot. There were no reports of whites participating in the fighting.

One witness said that lifeguards at the blacks’ beach locked themselves in their offices to escape attack until they were escorted out by police.

Stabbed at Camp Ground

Meanwhile, the South African police said in a statement that at Winklespruit, 18 miles south of Durban, “an Indian youth was stabbed to death when commuters on board a train became angry when it stopped too long at a signal.”

“The crowd stoned the train, smashing several windows and then rushed through a caravan park (camping ground) where the youth was stabbed,” said the police statement. “Several parked vehicles at the railway station were also damaged.”

The police statement did not mention the race of the people in the crowd, but witnesses said they were black.

Although the violence was not connected with unrest under the state of emergency, police referred calls to the government’s Bureau for Information, which referred them back to the police. Officers refused to give information throughout the day when reached by telephone.

Reporting Restricted

Censorship rules imposed under the six-month-old state of emergency ban or restrict reporting about unrest, security force actions, treatment of detainees, most forms of peaceful protest and a broad range of statements the government considers subversive.

By law and custom, apartheid establishes a racially segregated society in which South Africa’s 25 million blacks have no vote in national affairs. The 5 million whites control the economy and maintain separate districts, schools and health services.