OF THE 120 PROTESTS that were present across the country on Tuesday, only nine were riotous.
This was revealed by the Chairman of the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS), Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, when he had a press conference in Johannesburg to present the information they gathered in different places after the protests.
The protests organized by the March and March organization were about the citizens of this country, who came out in large numbers to express their anger that they no longer need illegal immigrants.
Lt Gen Mosikili said they thank the protesters for participating in the protests, which is their right, in a peaceful manner.
Expressing this in terms of statistics, Lt Gen Mosikili said that in the Free State all eight marches were peaceful.
He said the Eastern Cape had 28 peaceful demonstrations, while two had incidents.
In Gauteng there were 12 peaceful marches and one riot.
In KwaZulu-Natal, he said there were 21 peaceful marches, while two were chaotic.
“In Limpopo, there were 12 peaceful marches. In Mpumalanga, 9 peaceful marches, one had a riot. In the Northern Cape, there were four peaceful marches, while two were chaotic,” said Lt Gen Mosikili.
He went on to say that in the North West there were 8 that were peaceful, while in the Western Cape there were 6 that were peaceful when there was chaos.
He said that in the various campaigns carried out by the police as well as other law enforcement agencies across the country, about 900 people were arrested. He said that in this number there are a lot of immigrants who are in this country without documents and then there are those who are in this country.
He said that among the crimes they have been arrested for are breaking the country’s immigration law, breaking into businesses, robbing shops, creating a riot in the community, one of taking out a gun in the community and attempting to kill, which he said happened in Johannesburg.
Presenting the statistics of those arrested separately, he said 153 were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal province, seven in Mpumalanga and 215 in the Western Cape.
“In the Eastern Cape, 208 were arrested, in the North West, 83, in the Northern Cape, 51, in the Free State, 132 and in Gauteng, 82,” he said.
He thanked the help given to the South African Defense Force, who were deployed in different areas, waiting to be called if there is a need.
He said they heard the leader of the March and March, Mrs Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, when she said that they will continue to protest every Thursday from now until the next six months.
“We will continue to be vigilant when they have their protests as we always do. The police will continue to do their job against those who will break the law,” said Lt Gen Mosikili.
Several incidents of looting from shops in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have been reported.