Elderly shopper pulls gun on protesters

Dramatic scenes played out at Walmer Park Shopping Centre in Port Elizabeth yesterday morning when an elderly shopper pulled a firearm on Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) protesters during day two of the party’s nationwide Clicks shutdown protests.

The incident was filmed, seemingly on a cellphone, in the foyer of the busy mall.

In the clip, four mall security guards can be seen trying to separate two women dressed in EFF red from the shopper.

The demonstrators can be seen following the customer as guards lead her out of the centre.

The woman suddenly stops, reaches into her jacket and pulls out a firearm, which she points at the protesters.

The EFF members can then be heard shouting, “shoot! shoot!”

Gun Owners South Africa chairperson Paul Oxley said the two elderly women were not being aggressive in their actions until one was aggressively approached by a young male, much larger than her, who tried to assault her.

“The elderly woman then drew her firearm to defend herself, she did not shoot. But the attacker quickly backed off,” Oxley said.

“Defensive gun use does not only entail shooting. The mere production of a firearm often defuses the situation timeously.”

All the people involved in the altercation were arrested and taken to the Walmer Park Police Station, said police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg.

At the police station, both parties refused to lay criminal charges against each other, Janse van Rensburg said.

EFF Eastern Cape chairperson, Yazini Tetyana, said the party “enjoys irritating white people”.

“That incident demonstrated that white people are irritated by the EFF and we like that. Our members were there for Clicks, but that woman got irritated and yelled at our members.”

Tetyana added: “But what we didn’t like is the attitude of the police, who handcuffed our member without getting the full details.

“It was only after our member pointed out that the woman drew a firearm first that she was also arrested.”

The incident happened at 10.30am yesterday, said Walmer Park Shopping Mall centre manager Leonie Scheepers.

Scheepers said the altercation began after the elderly woman started filming a gathering of people in EFF T-shirts outside Clicks.

“Security personnel approached her and requested that she cease filming. She ignored this request, and then confronted the person who appeared to be the leader of the group. An altercation ensued. During the altercation, the customer took out a firearm and pointed it at the group.” – News24 Wire, additional reporting by Amanda Watson