Peak-hour traffic was thrown into chaos when a demonstration by up to 2,000 protesters turned violent and forced traffic authorities to close the N2 highway.
Police were shot at and pelted with stones as they battled to contain the protest, which began at about 4am, and tried to reopen the highway.
The protest comes after residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement demonstrated outside Parliament recently and threatened to close the N2 if their demands regarding housing were not met.
Joe Slovo residents, supported by the Anti-Eviction Campaign, demanded that the government stop forcibly relocating them to Delft to make space for the further development of the N2 Gateway.
After a brief lull this morning, violence erupted again as roving groups of protesters tried to access the N2 at Langa.
Pockets of Metro police officers sprinted from site to site firing rubber bullets to prevent the crowd reaching the N2 near the Langa indoor sports complex.
A massive bonfire was lit at the entrance to Langa, blocking traffic going in and out of the suburb.
Police officers cowered under the threat of live fire from the protesters and the stones raining down on them.
At the time of going to press the outgoing lanes of the N2 were closed to traffic and the situation across Langa remained volatile.
Thousands of commuters were late for work in the resulting gridlock. Approach roads to Cape Town International Airport were also blocked, but the protest did not have an impact on operations, said Airports Company spokesperson Deidre Hendricks.
By 7am the crowd had swelled to about 2 000 militant protesters armed with sticks and stones. Officers were warned by their commanders to look out for protesters armed with guns and petrol bombs.
Nervous officers described the situation as "volatile".
Officers fired on the protesters over a period of half an hour as they tried to drive them away from the N2. Protesters vandalised buildings under construction at the N2 Gateway project, ripping scaffolding apart to arm themselves with the iron bars.
A bakery delivery truck fell victim to the unruly crowd when protesters stopped it, forced out its occupants and set it alight.
In this morning's chaos both incoming and outgoing lanes of the N2 were blocked between Jan Smuts and Vanguard drives. Vanguard Drive was closed to traffic.
Incoming commuters were stopped at Vanguard Drive and diverted to Klipfontein Road to the south and Voortrekker Road to the north of the N2.
Outgoing traffic was similarly diverted off the N2 at Jan Smuts Avenue, creating a nightmare for traffic bound for Cape Town International Airport.
The traffic back-up caused several cars to collide as vehicles travelling at 120km/h suddenly encountered the gridlock.
By 7.45am the N2 closure had caused thick congestion on the N1 too, as thousands of motorists tried to find alternative routes into the city.
At 8am dozens of Metro police and SAPS officers guarded the side of the N2 as the highway was re-opened to traffic.
The road remained strewn with the cartridges of hundreds of rounds of rubber bullets fired at the protesters.
At the time of going to press, Cape Town traffic spokesperson Searle Johannes, who was at the scene, said the crowd remained about 100 metres from the N2 on Bunga Avenue and showed no signs of dispersing.
"We have limited resources out here and the crowd is quite large, so the police have not been able to arrest any protesters," Johannes said at the height of the drama.
"The police have been here since the start with enough personnel to contain the crowd and they have been firing rubber bullets at people who throw stones at them.
"Traffic police are deployed to close the roads and Metro police are controlling the perimeter," he said.
Johannes said excess traffic was being diverted onto the M5 and the N1.
Mayor Helen Zille declined to comment today on the protest or the reasons for it, saying that she was told it had to do with the N2 Gateway housing project and that it was an issue with which the provincial government had been dealing.
Provincial housing minister Richard Dyantyi described the protests as being about "narrow individual interests" that could not be allowed to stop the development.
Dyantyi said the development of the N2 Gateway pilot project "necessitated" the relocation of residents of informal settlements to temporary housing. - Cape Argus
Police were shot at and pelted with stones as they battled to contain the protest, which began at about 4am, and tried to reopen the highway.
Police fired rubber bullets into the crowd as they were pelted with stones by the aggressive mob which tried to break down and set fire to houses in the N2 Gateway housing project.
The protest comes after residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement demonstrated outside Parliament recently and threatened to close the N2 if their demands regarding housing were not met.
Joe Slovo residents, supported by the Anti-Eviction Campaign, demanded that the government stop forcibly relocating them to Delft to make space for the further development of the N2 Gateway.
After a brief lull this morning, violence erupted again as roving groups of protesters tried to access the N2 at Langa.
Pockets of Metro police officers sprinted from site to site firing rubber bullets to prevent the crowd reaching the N2 near the Langa indoor sports complex.
A massive bonfire was lit at the entrance to Langa, blocking traffic going in and out of the suburb.
Police officers cowered under the threat of live fire from the protesters and the stones raining down on them.
At the time of going to press the outgoing lanes of the N2 were closed to traffic and the situation across Langa remained volatile.
Thousands of commuters were late for work in the resulting gridlock. Approach roads to Cape Town International Airport were also blocked, but the protest did not have an impact on operations, said Airports Company spokesperson Deidre Hendricks.
By 7am the crowd had swelled to about 2 000 militant protesters armed with sticks and stones. Officers were warned by their commanders to look out for protesters armed with guns and petrol bombs.
Nervous officers described the situation as "volatile".
Officers fired on the protesters over a period of half an hour as they tried to drive them away from the N2. Protesters vandalised buildings under construction at the N2 Gateway project, ripping scaffolding apart to arm themselves with the iron bars.
A bakery delivery truck fell victim to the unruly crowd when protesters stopped it, forced out its occupants and set it alight.
In this morning's chaos both incoming and outgoing lanes of the N2 were blocked between Jan Smuts and Vanguard drives. Vanguard Drive was closed to traffic.
Incoming commuters were stopped at Vanguard Drive and diverted to Klipfontein Road to the south and Voortrekker Road to the north of the N2.
Outgoing traffic was similarly diverted off the N2 at Jan Smuts Avenue, creating a nightmare for traffic bound for Cape Town International Airport.
The traffic back-up caused several cars to collide as vehicles travelling at 120km/h suddenly encountered the gridlock.
By 7.45am the N2 closure had caused thick congestion on the N1 too, as thousands of motorists tried to find alternative routes into the city.
At 8am dozens of Metro police and SAPS officers guarded the side of the N2 as the highway was re-opened to traffic.
The road remained strewn with the cartridges of hundreds of rounds of rubber bullets fired at the protesters.
At the time of going to press, Cape Town traffic spokesperson Searle Johannes, who was at the scene, said the crowd remained about 100 metres from the N2 on Bunga Avenue and showed no signs of dispersing.
"We have limited resources out here and the crowd is quite large, so the police have not been able to arrest any protesters," Johannes said at the height of the drama.
"The police have been here since the start with enough personnel to contain the crowd and they have been firing rubber bullets at people who throw stones at them.
"Traffic police are deployed to close the roads and Metro police are controlling the perimeter," he said.
Johannes said excess traffic was being diverted onto the M5 and the N1.
Mayor Helen Zille declined to comment today on the protest or the reasons for it, saying that she was told it had to do with the N2 Gateway housing project and that it was an issue with which the provincial government had been dealing.
Provincial housing minister Richard Dyantyi described the protests as being about "narrow individual interests" that could not be allowed to stop the development.
Dyantyi said the development of the N2 Gateway pilot project "necessitated" the relocation of residents of informal settlements to temporary housing. - Cape Argus
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