Gauteng EFF to picket outside courts, police stations to demand release of protesters

The EFF in Gauteng says it will picket outside various police stations and courts in the province to demand the release of protesters detained during the party's shutdown.

The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints) on Tuesday confirmed it had arrested more than 550 protesters for public violence, intimidation, damage to critical infrastructure, theft and attempted looting.

Gauteng led the pack with 149 people arrested.

The red berets in Gauteng slammed the police's “callous behaviour” over their refusal to release arrested members. 

“After much deployment of police for the protests, it is now apparent that they were sent to provoke and arrest innocent demonstrators in order to justify the wasteful expenditure of R166m in deploying the army and reserve police,” the party said.

“The state has now sunk into an abyss of deceit and lawlessness as it infringes on the rights of citizens to demonstrate, as enshrined in section 17 of the constitution.

“The continued arrest of peaceful demonstrators and their denial of the opportunity to apply for police bail lays bare the way in which the state is ready to infringe the fundamental right to freedom of expression, especially on views that criticise and expose the state and corrupt politicians.”

The EFF said it's been attending to these cases since the march started and has observed “the brutality meted against citizens by the police and private security, moreover the unrecorded wrongful arrests, abuses and release of those who were apprehended by the law enforcement.

“This is an abuse of power by the state in an attempt to further intimidate citizens from holding the government accountable through demonstrations.

“We call on [police minister] Bheki Cele and [justice minister] Ronald Lamola ... and provincial commissioner Elias Mawela to immediately release the innocent citizens. The EFF Gauteng will be engaging on pickets at the police stations and courts in demand of the release of the peaceful demonstrators.”

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