About 100 Cape St Francis residents gathered on the shore this week to protest against an unusual “land grab” which, they say, has slashed their beach to a fraction of its former glory.

A mix of people, including surfers, scientists, families, elderly folk and children, scaled the sand berm at the high-water mark on Wednesday evening and spent two hours clearing thatch, laid apparently by households in adjacent Barcelona Place and Stavnisse Road to stabilise the sand...