Death toll rising in S.A. riots

Press, 21 August 1976, Page 6

Death toll rising in S.A. riots

NZPA-Reuter Port Elizabeth Stone-throwing black rioters have attacked four factories on the outskirts of African townships near Port Elizabeth after days of violence which left 33 Africans dead.

? through my office window, i and women in the office be- . came hysterical.” Mr Matzner said the 1 crowd 1 ad dispersed only after one of his employees I had fired over their heads i with his rifle, and the police j had arrived. i’i Al the other plants, I; policemen in paramilitary uniforms opened fire to dis-1 perse the rioters. Two schools were gutted I( as were a post office, a -i Bantu (African) Affairs .‘Administration office, four bottle stores, and a clinic. I Scores of poli ■ vehic’js ‘Were badly damaged by the II rioters, and six private cars (were set on fire. The managers of factories t near the Indian >cean resort s ! said they would be taking

The factories on the edge of Port Elizabeth’s African townships were ttoned by hundreds of blacks, but little damage was done. A police spokesman said that in the riots, which began on Wednesday night.' 14 Africans had been shot! dead, by the police and 28 wounded. Schools, shopping centres,! and beer halls were set' ablaze in the New Brighton! Kwazakele, and Zwile town-| ships, and the damage wa>; estimated at more than SIM The rioters later • ned their attention to the fac-i Tories, but were dispersed! after police opened fire. The manager of one engineering company, Mr Robert Matzner said: “Rocks came

extra security precautions after the attacks. Black unrest showed itself - elsewhere in South Africa in the Transkei villa;.e of Lady Frere, more than 50 ( ‘ students marched through the streets, setting fire to a Government car and damaging another. In Durban, another port further up fouth Africa’s least coast, police detained at least six more persons.in an extensive wave of arrests linked with the black unrest. The latest detainees include five black med'- ’udents at the University of : Natal, and Mr Bobby Mari, aged 22, son-in-law of the Indian sociologist and anti- ; apartheid canrn-’gner; Mrs Fatima Meer, recently l declared a “banned person”.