You’re not so brave now when you’re not with your friends ne? Ek moer jou nou. He was with another officer and they had followed me. At the end of the event, on my way home the same policeman came to me. A policeman came and tried to disturb us, but I asked him why he was doing this even though he knew about the gathering. It was not the first time we did something like this. Photo by Masixole Feni.Īnother protester, Alfredo Fritz, said, “A few days ago we had a little event at the community park in Wesbank, where a group of us were playing music and eating, just having fun. John Lesch hands over a memorandum to Major G Wewer. When I go to the police station to inquire about the case, the police are not interested in what I have to say,” said Hakskeen. I reported the incident and opened a case at the Mfuleni police station but nothing came of it. I encouraged them and as I did that, before the police left, one of the officers, a woman, took my fruit and veg packs and started throwing them around. At this point there was a crowd of people watching and recording. Then he threw a stone at me, which hit me on my face and I started bleeding. One of the officers asked me what it was and I told him and he said ‘Moenie kak praat nie, ek moer jou nou’. There was nothing in it and it was lying on the floor. They came across my cultural cup which I use to store my religious marijuana, but it was empty. They found nothing, then they started searching my stall and even there they found nothing. About eight officers came to us and without a word started searching us. Out of nowhere about four police vans came. Then two guys came and they stood at the stall and they listened to my music. I run a fruit and vegetable stall and on that day I was at my stall on the corner and playing my guitar. “I was a victim of police brutality late last year in my community. Short dreadlocks with one thick lock resting on the right side of his neck, wearing a shirt which is splashed with the colours yellow, red and green, Clinton Hakskeen from Kuilsrivier showed GroundUp the healed scar under his left eye, which he says was the result of police brutality. They are using the Rastafarian community as a soft target despite the fact that we do not pose a criminal threat to South African citizens, the government or the police.” They blatantly disregarded the onus of respecting the diverse community of South Africa … We are violated and brutalised by the police. We want to express our dismay and dissatisfaction at the conduct of the two policemen. The protesters held placards saying “Stop police brutality” and “Rasta rise against police brutality”.ĭeputy convener of the protest Grant Marais said, “We are here today because of the incident that happened last week where Eduard Grebe and one of the members of the Rastafarian community, Ras Joseph, were brutalised. Some of the drivers held up fists as a salute to the Rastafarians. Grebe described his arrest for filming an alleged assault by a police officer.Ī small group of about 20 protesters, most of them from the community of Wesbank in Kuilsriver, sang and danced along Main Road outside the police station, much to the joy of taxi drivers who showed their support by hooting and waving at them. An article by Eduard Grebe highlighting police brutality spurred the Cape Town Rastafarian community to protest outside Woodstock Police Station today.
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