S. Africa Police Tear-Gas Religious Leader, Protesters
Police lobbed tear gas at the feet of World Alliance of Reformed Churches leader Allan Boesak as he led about 200 black protesters in a defiant march against eviction from a rundown shantytown.
“Today’s action was inexcusable,” Boesak told reporters as he wiped his streaming eyes with a handkerchief. “There was absolutely no cause whatsoever to fire tear gas at these people.”
Boesak was confronted by dozens of policemen as he led about 200 residents of Uitkyk squatter camp in the Cape Town suburb of Kraaifontein in a march to the local police station.
Police fired tear gas after the marchers ignored an order to disperse because the march was illegal.
On Monday police warned leaders of the anti-government Mass Democratic Movement in a letter that unauthorized open-air protests would not be tolerated. The letter urged protest organizers to seek official permission for marches planned today, Wednesday and Friday.
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