Rebel S. Africa Policeman Is Fired for Forming Illegal Union
A rebel police officer was fired Thursday, six months after he accused riot police of behaving like wild dogs.
Police Commissioner Johan van der Merwe said he fired Lt. Gregory Rockman because he had contravened standing orders by involving himself in police and prison staff strikes breaking out across the country.
Rockman--who is Colored, or of mixed race--formed the illegal Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union in November to campaign against racial discrimination in the two services and against alleged riot police brutality toward demonstrators.
Thirty-nine police officers were fired and 68 striking black jail guards were arrested Wednesday in a crackdown on the union’s campaign.
Rockman had said riot police behaved like “wild dogs” toward demonstrators in Cape Town during last September’s parliamentary elections.
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