The police deployed in Mangaung to manage disruptive actions made additional arrests in the past 24 hours. This is after the looting of shops belonging to foreign nationals and some were seriously damaged.
The total number of people who were arrested since the shutdown protests started on Sunday evening stands at 70, and we anticipate more arrests as there are shop owners still coming to report additional cases.
There were other protests which were reported in areas like Soutpan, Dewetsdorp, and Zastron. In Zastron protests about 20 people were arrested thus far for public violence and looting which took place at foreign nationals’ shops as well.
Up to this morning, all these areas were reported to be quiet, but police deployments are still in these places and will be there until the situation has been normalised.
The 57-year-old suspect arrested on the murder of a teenager is expected to appear in the Bloemfontein magistrate court today, and there will be a group of protestors who were arrested on Sunday and Monday respectively also appearing in court today.
Once more we are appealing to those criminal elements who are continuing to loot the shops and barricade the roads to stop as we consider their conduct as pure criminality.