DA protester attacked outside Luthuli House

[caption id="attachment_200170" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Police came to the aid of a DA supporter who was attacked outside the ANC’s headquarters in Johannesburg
Picture: Alon Skuy[/caption]

A DA protester was attacked by pro-Zuma supporters outside the ANC’s headquarters in Johannesburg on Friday.

MK veterans‚ wearing camouflage uniforms‚ were lined up outside Luthuli House to “protect” it from protesters calling on President Jacob Zuma to quit.

Also outside Luthuli House was a group of ANC‚ ANC Youth League and Congress of SA Students (Cosas) members‚ wearing yellow party t-shirts and carrying placards with slogans such as‚ “Hands off our President!“.

Police had to fire rubber bullets several times at pockets of protesters to prevent them from moving toward a group of Democratic Alliance members who were marching against Zuma elsewhere in the city.

“We are here today to defend our president‚ Jacob Zuma. Us as Cosas remain resolute as we want him to remain our president‚” said Cosas regional secretary Gugu Nkosi.

Nkosi said Cosas came out in their “numbers” to defend the ANC and Luthuli House against the DA and Economic Freedom Fighters.

Minutes later‚ a group of people attacked two DA supporters who were walking on the sidewalk opposite Luthuli House.

One of the DA members was injured but the police intervened and escorted the pair to safety.

A while later‚ protesters spotted shop workers looking on from behind a locked security gate and started shouting xenophobic comments at them and hitting the gate.

Police again intervened.

One of the protesters was overheard telling his comrades: “This protest is about South Africans‚ not foreigners.”

— TMG Digital/TimesLIVE