Protesters arrested and stun grenades fired during Durban anti-GBV demonstration

Demonstrators who had planned to March to Durban city hall to protest against gender-based violence have been arrested.

According to Durban metro police, the gathering of about 100 people was not cleared through them. Police fired stun grenades to disperse the crowd gathered on Durban’s north beach on Saturday.

“There is no application that has been made to our office and no permission has been granted in terms of the Covid-19 regulations,” said a metro police spokesperson.

Both metro police and the SAPS were on the scene, the spokesperson added.

Khayelihle Hlomuka, one of the conveners of the march, told TimesLIVE that as far as he was aware other conveners had sent through an application and that social distancing was being maintained.

“We are maintaining social distancing, we have brought the right things to control anything that could lead to a spread, like masks, but yet we are still not given permission even though we have clearance,” said Hlomuka.

Hlomuka said that he was frustrated by the police's attempts to stop them from marching for a worthy cause.

“All of us here are trying to go and protest for a worthy cause something that policemen are not doing a good job at, and now we're being stopped when they could be stopping many men out there who are raping and violating women's rights. We are being blocked from doing something that we should be doing, that is our right and civic duty,” he said.

“I don't know why they're here trying to stop us from doing our job because as a community and as a population in SA we can see that they aren't doing their job well enough,” he added.

Police were not immediately available for comment. Similar marches were set to take place in Cape Town and Johannesburg.