Cape Town on Monday berated "marauding gangs attacking innocent people" during Sunday night's Guy Fawkes commemoration.
The City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre fielded 209 calls about the illegal discharge of fireworks away from designated sites‚ the city said in a statement. Its staff also issued more than 100 verbal warnings about the illegal discharge of fireworks in residential areas and the use of "paint socks".
This is a practice where people attack each other with socks filled with paint and stones.
In Lavender Hill and surrounds‚ the city said:
- A security guard had to be hospitalised after he was attacked along Military Road by a gang of youths brandishing bricks in socks. He sustained injuries to his head and ear. Law Enforcement officers fired two rubber rounds to ward off the assailants.
- A man on a bicycle on his way home from church was attacked with paint socks
- A woman and two children were injured when a gang attacked them with paint socks
- A boy was run over by a vehicle while fleeing from a gang of youths brandishing paint socks
- A man on his way home from work was attacked and robbed by three youngsters in Drury Road‚ Capricorn.
"This is but an example of the terror many communities endure on Guy Fawkes. Apart from the disturbance that fireworks cause‚ the behaviour of marauding gangs attacking innocent people is downright criminal‚" said JP Smith‚ Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.
At its 12 designated sites for fireworks displays‚ the City of Cape Town’s Safety and Security Directorate said 22 people were injured - 18 children and four adults‚ of whom three were women and one male.
Fifteen of the injuries were recorded at Strandfontein Pavilion‚ including a 10-year-old boy who was taken to hospital after sustaining an eye injury.
Another 10-year-old sustained a leg injury in Sarepta and was referred to his general practitioner for further treatment.
"All other injured people were treated on site for minor injuries."
Smith said the city of Cape Town is "doing as much as any local authority can to minimise the use of fireworks. However‚ the upcoming review of the By-law relating to Streets‚ Public Places and Prevention of Noise Nuisances in the next year offers an opportunity to take a fresh legal and constitutional look at the City’s powers in this regard. Furthermore‚ we urge civil society to petition National Government for stronger legislation relating to the sale and use of fireworks by the general public."
Mayhem of Guy Fawkes in Cape Town
The City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre fielded 209 calls about the illegal discharge of fireworks away from designated sites‚ the city said in a statement. Its staff also issued more than 100 verbal warnings about the illegal discharge of fireworks in residential areas and the use of "paint socks".
This is a practice where people attack each other with socks filled with paint and stones.
In Lavender Hill and surrounds‚ the city said:
- A security guard had to be hospitalised after he was attacked along Military Road by a gang of youths brandishing bricks in socks. He sustained injuries to his head and ear. Law Enforcement officers fired two rubber rounds to ward off the assailants.
- A man on a bicycle on his way home from church was attacked with paint socks
- A woman and two children were injured when a gang attacked them with paint socks
- A boy was run over by a vehicle while fleeing from a gang of youths brandishing paint socks
- A man on his way home from work was attacked and robbed by three youngsters in Drury Road‚ Capricorn.
"This is but an example of the terror many communities endure on Guy Fawkes. Apart from the disturbance that fireworks cause‚ the behaviour of marauding gangs attacking innocent people is downright criminal‚" said JP Smith‚ Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.
At its 12 designated sites for fireworks displays‚ the City of Cape Town’s Safety and Security Directorate said 22 people were injured - 18 children and four adults‚ of whom three were women and one male.
Fifteen of the injuries were recorded at Strandfontein Pavilion‚ including a 10-year-old boy who was taken to hospital after sustaining an eye injury.
Another 10-year-old sustained a leg injury in Sarepta and was referred to his general practitioner for further treatment.
"All other injured people were treated on site for minor injuries."
Smith said the city of Cape Town is "doing as much as any local authority can to minimise the use of fireworks. However‚ the upcoming review of the By-law relating to Streets‚ Public Places and Prevention of Noise Nuisances in the next year offers an opportunity to take a fresh legal and constitutional look at the City’s powers in this regard. Furthermore‚ we urge civil society to petition National Government for stronger legislation relating to the sale and use of fireworks by the general public."
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