North Coast Courier Eleven people were arrested including an 88-year-old man and his 81-year-old wife who were allegedly also taking a walk along the beach.
A disturbing video of KwaDukuza municipality peace officers allegedly trying to drag a screaming four-year-old child out of a Chaka’s Rock complex while his father tries to pull him from them on Sunday morning has gone viral.
The Courier spoke to Paul* (37) one of the men who was arrested, who captured the viral video on his phone.
Paul told us that about ten officers arrived at the complex to arrest him and several other families for failing to comply with the lockdown regulations.
The officers were responding to a complaint after several families had been seen on Chaka’s Rock beach at around 7.30am.
The families with their children were already on their way home when the officers arrived to arrest them.
“We were nowhere near the beach when the police barged into the complex to arrest us in full view of our children who were completely overwhelmed when they saw their parents being taken away.
“Our kids were left all alone and neighbours had to take care of them until we were released from jail hours later,” said Paul, whose six-year-old daughter is still reeling from the incident.
Paul’s wife said her daughter blamed herself for her father’s arrest and was still recovering from the dramatic events of yesterday.
Eleven people were arrested including an 88-year-old man and his 81-year-old wife who were allegedly also taking a walk along the beach.
The elderly couple, who have been walking along that same stretch of beach for the past 20-years, were taken with the rest of them to Umhlali SAPS and locked in the holding cells for almost seven hours before released on R1000 bail.
South Africa how is this ok!!?? ? Traffic cops try and arrest a CHILD for being near the beach! Dad gets arrested instead??? #thisisnotok #southafrica #Covid_19SA #harassingcitizens
Watch "Man arrested in Gated property" on YouTube https://t.co/uVkJLxvjQG
— Leyla Koen (@LeylaKoen) May 11, 2020
He said that not all of the officers had been wearing masks when they were arrested.
“The women were held in a separate cell to the men and because the cells were so small, three meters by two meters, none of us could observe social distancing.”
“We do not condone breaking the regulations, but the way they handled the situation was unacceptable.”
“They crossed the line by behaving the way they did, especially in front of our children,” he said.
Online commentators have accused the police of being heavy-handed after the footage was posted on social media.
Our government has gone full tyranny. It’s time to put the 2A into action. If we don’t…