S African police clash with striking workers at parliament
South’s Africa’s riot police have fired stun and smoke grenades to disperse scores of striking workers holding a rally at the parliament to demand higher pay.
On Wednesday, a large number of policemen moved in on some 200 striking workers on the steps of parliament, firing stun grenades and ordering them to leave the grounds.
The police also used their shields to drive workers from the steps of the national assembly in the capital city of Cape Town.
Sources say the stand-off continued for several hours.
The angry workers chanted slogans and resisted evacuation from the parliament complex.
"We work here, we can't be removed. The police must go," the protesting workers shouted.
"We are all demanding a living wage, that's why we are here," said one protester who was briefly held by security forces at the site.
The raid came after angry workers, including secretarial and catering staff, stormed committee rooms and forced lawmakers to abandon meetings. Workers have declared that no committee would sit until their demands were met.
Reacting to the developments, lawmakers from various political factions have agreed that it was unacceptable for work to be disrupted and they needed to make sure the invasion did not happen again.
Defending the raid against the parliamentary workers, Dorris Dlakude, the deputy chief whip for the ruling African National Congress said the police had to intervene to restore calm at the site. "What we didn't like is the workers storming into committee meetings to disrupt them."
The workers have been on strike for better pay and working conditions for three days in protest to the payment structure of bonuses and vetting of staff.
It is the second time in less than a month that security forces have fired stun grenades to disperse protesters within the parliamentary complex. On Oct. 21, the anti-riot police targeted student demonstrators who had forced their way through the gates to protest rising university fees.
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