Tired of protests

I AM most certain I am one of thousands of South Africans absolutely sick to death of the number of protests in this country!

I think we have become almost immune to the news of protest action taking place – we are all just so used to it! You name it, on any given day in South Africa, some group is protesting somewhere.

Did it ever perhaps occur to any of those protesting that sitting down at a table and negotiating might bring about better success in resolving their qualms? That perhaps, instead of running around with sticks, burning everything in sight and throwing stones at people who have nothing to do with their problems, those people in positions of power might be more amenable to assisting them!

By the way, this is how it is done in a civilised community.

I think this government has created a sense of entitlement among its people – the attitude of "we must get what we want"! The result of which is what we see on the streets and our TVs every day – constant demands and protests that, for the most part, are out of hand.

The municipality and SAPS must step in and protect all citizens from this criminal, violent behaviour and put a stop to this immediately. People do have a constitutional right to protest peacefully, but this does not include murder, intimidation, burning property, tyres, looting, etc.

Relevant officials need to start taking a very strong stance on this matter. It is getting seriously out of hand and ordinary citizens are fed up. Police just dispersing the crowd is not good enough!

If protesters behave in such a manner, they must be arrested and charged accordingly. Protesters should also be held accountable and liable for the property they damage.

PE resident