SOCIAL MOVEMENTS INDABA
PRESS STATEMENT
State repression intensifies!
Freedom of Expression March attacked by police
Earlier this evening (Saturday 24th August) the South
African Police attacked the Freedom of Expression march in Johannesburg, organised
jointly by the Social Movements Indaba (SMI) and International Forum on Globalisation
(IFG). At least three marchers were injured and a prominent South African
filmmaker, Rehad Desai arrested.
The march was intended as a public statement of protest against the South African
government's increasingly brutal repression of those who would dare voice dissent
against the corporate agenda of the WSSD and government policies that are wreaking
such devastation on the poor. Armed with candles,
the several hundred marchers from all over South Africa and from various corners
of the globe, were proceeding from Wits University (in Braamfontein) to the
Johannesburg Central Prison (John Vorster Square), when the police, without
warning, attacked them with concussion grenades.
In the ensuing melee, a Canadian activist, Karen Coge, was hit by one of the
grenades and had to be rushed to hospital, suffering from serious burns. Anti-Privatisation
member, Dudu Mphenyeke was also taken to hospital with a dislocated knee and
at least one other marcher was injured. Several chi
ldren who had joined the peaceful march were left in a state of trauma. Desai,
who was filming the march, was arrested for 'obstructing police operations'
and hauled off to Hillbrow Police Station where he was charged and released
on R1000 bail. Several internationally renowned anti-globalisation activists
and intellectuals, including Vandana Shiva, Maude Barlow, Naomi Klein, Tony
Clarke and John Saul, were caught up in the police attack.
After the attack, marchers regrouped in the street and faced-off against a small
army of heavily armed and aggressive police. March leaders attempted to reason
with the police to allow the march to proceed, to no avail. The police responded
by indicating that they were prepared to forcibly arrest
everyone. After a spirited street rally, marchers peacefully dispersed.
The events of this evening are only further confirmation of the ever-narrowing
space in the 'new' South Africa, for the exercise of the basic constitutional
and human rights to freedom of expressionand assembly. If not before, it should
now be crystal clear that the South African government is h
ell-bent on smashing legitimate dissent by whatever means they deem appropriate,
including attacking peaceful marchers and terrorising children. The ghosts of
the South African past are returning with a vengeance.
The SMI says again - the South African government is making a serious mistake
if it believes that it can bludgeon into submission, those who seek to expose
the W$$D for the fraud that it is and who oppose government policies against
the poor. The freedoms that so many South Africans fought so long for will not
be given up because of the arrogance and authoritarianism of a new set of elites.
It is time for all those who support such freedoms to stand up and be counted.
Silence is the voiceof complicity.
For further information contact: Dale McKinley on 072 429-4086