Police stop death by fire

Police saved a Nigerian man who had been doused with petrol and was on the verge of being set alight by a group of protesters in Rustenburg yesterday.

Eyewitnesses said the Nigerian was taking hair products to his salon on Bethlehem Drive when he was attacked and stabbed. The police got there just as he was about to be set alight and pulled him to safety.

They fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd of protesters.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Pelonomi Makau said: “No one has been arrested.

“The people who attacked him blocked the intersection of Oliver Tambo and Bethlehem drives,” she said.

The group barricaded the road near the taxi rank with burning objects and rubble and pelted the police with stones.

Shops near the taxi rank were closed for the second time this week. On Tuesday, shops were closed during the bail application of 14 Nigerian men accused of public violence.

They were denied bail at the Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court after they told the court they would not be safe if granted bail.

On February 9, Rustenburg was shut down as an angry crowd of about 5 000 people protested at the magistrate’s court, threatening to torch the court building.

Makau dismissed allegations that a taxi driver was killed on Tuesday night. She said six men were intending to rob a motor spares shop in the inner city on Tuesday night, but that police were tipped off and went to the scene.

The suspected robbers fired shots at the police and the police returned fire, killing one of the robbers and arresting the rest.

“The police were travelling in an unmarked minibus taxi. People saw the minibus taxi and a dead suspect and thought it was a taxi driver who was shot.”

She said the suspects were found in possession of suspected stolen goods and two unlicensed firearms. – ANA