South African police forces fire on each other

by Amy Judd | June 26, 2008 at 10:43 am

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In a bizarre twist on modern policing, rival gangs of police actually fired on each other during a motorway shoot-out during rush hour in Johannesburg.

Motorists fled from their vehicles and seven officers were injured.

Thankfully no one was killed as live ammunition was fired.

The gun battle happened on the city's busy M2 urban motorway between members of the Metro police, Johannesburg's city force, and officers of the South African Police Services.

The Metro police, whose primary function is traffic control, blocked access and off-ramps to the motorway during the main evening rush-hour on Wednesday as part of a protest against pay and conditions.

South African Police Services officers attempted to break up the demonstration by firing rubber bullets.

"Suddenly there was a proper gun fight, with live ammunition flying everywhere," said one of the many motorists who dived under his vehicle for cover.

"It is quite terrifying when our two law enforcement agencies battle each other as we try to come to terms with the fact that our city has one of the highest crimes rates in the world."

Of course, each force blamed each other for the incident.

The SAPS' spokesman, Supt Eugene Opperman, said his men had tried several times to persuade the Metro officers to disperse from the highway and open it for traffic.

"The metro officers refused and the police officers were forced to disperse them with rubber bullets. However, live ammunition was fired from the metro side at the police officers. This was highly irresponsible and dangerous," he said.

Johannesburg is the host city for the 2010 football World Cup so they need to get situations such as this one under control before they welcome the world to thier doorstep.

A blogger comments on the situation:

As if the crime in this country wasn’t bad enough, now we have cops shooting each other. Independent Online reports that over 400 protesting metro police blockaded the M2 highway that rings Johannesburg, bringing peak hour traffic to a standstill.

Then along come the SA Police in riot gear. Shooting erupted, with the metro police using live ammunition and the SA Police using rubber bullets. Seven metro cops were injured.

This news disgusts me so much, I’m having a hard time writing it down. It was bad enough when the security companies went on strike and then rioted, smashing cars, windows and looting shop storefronts. Now we have the police forces - supposed peacekeepers - shooting at each other, with innocent civilians in the cross-fire, during rush-hour traffic!

Why is it that so many South Africans inevitably turn to violence to sort out their problems? What’s wrong with these goddamned people?!

His frustration is understandable.

NOTE: the video is about the rising violence in South Africa in relation to hosting the 2010 football World Cup.