Stun grenades used against Cape strikers
9 July 2009, 18:28
By Aziz Hartley and Sapa
The second day of a construction workers' strike in Cape Town turned ugly as police lobbed stun grenades at marchers protesting a deadlock in wage negotiations.
Gallery: 2010 stadia strike
Strikers demanding a 13 percent increase on a R2 500 monthly minimum (R14 an hour) marched in large groups from Cape Town central railway station to the Green Point 2010 stadium building site on Thursday morning closely monitored by SAPS and Metro Police.
They protested their bosses' offer of 10.4 percent, and also demanded improvements to working conditions.
Police fired a stun grenade when a group threatened workers not on strike at a construction site in Somerset Road.
Later, another grenade was directed at a number of angry strikers trying to break down a gate locking them out of the stadium.
Tension increased when a clash seemed imminent as heavily armed officers took up position ahead of advancing strikers, but an incensed group retreated on the advice of less militant co-workers.
Read the full story in Friday's editions of The Cape Times newspaper.
The second day of a construction workers' strike in Cape Town turned ugly as police lobbed stun grenades at marchers protesting a deadlock in wage negotiations.
Gallery: 2010 stadia strike
Strikers demanding a 13 percent increase on a R2 500 monthly minimum (R14 an hour) marched in large groups from Cape Town central railway station to the Green Point 2010 stadium building site on Thursday morning closely monitored by SAPS and Metro Police.
They protested their bosses' offer of 10.4 percent, and also demanded improvements to working conditions.
Police fired a stun grenade when a group threatened workers not on strike at a construction site in Somerset Road.
Later, another grenade was directed at a number of angry strikers trying to break down a gate locking them out of the stadium.
Tension increased when a clash seemed imminent as heavily armed officers took up position ahead of advancing strikers, but an incensed group retreated on the advice of less militant co-workers.
Cape Town
