Residents at two Hillbrow buildings, where up to 25 people have been squatting in one room, tossed blankets and other possessions out of windows as the Red Ants moved in with eviction orders on Tuesday morning.
Inspector Kriban Naidoo said the evictions were happening after an early-morning raid on the BJ Alexandra and Eagle Mount buildings, where people have been paying R400 a month for a room.
Naidoo said 90 illegal immigrants and six wanted criminals were arrested in the raid, which started at about 2am.
Social workers had to be called in to remove 68 children who were found without parents.
”People were squatting in these buildings. There were no toilets and there were faeces all over the place,” he said.
”We identified the wanted criminals on the morpho touch machines [electronic fingerprint machines]. The control room still needs to be contacted so that we know what they are wanted for.
”When we finished, the sheriff of the court and the Red Ants moved in with eviction orders. When they came, the people in the buildings started throwing blankets and their possession out of the windows.”
Naidoo said two unlicensed firearms were confiscated during the raids, as was a shopping packet filled with marijuana.
”These buildings are dangerous breathing holes for criminals,” he said.
The buildings, which are joined, are across the road from a Gothic church and the old Windybrow Theatre. They are near to the old district surgeon on Claim Street.
The police say gangs are making up to R345 000 a month from collecting rent from tenants in Hillbrow.
Two building managers in the suburb were assassinated in July by alleged building hijackers.
Naidoo said there are about 34 nationalities living in Hillbrow, many of whom are said to be illegal immigrants.
”We are working hand in hand with the building owners and with the municipality,” Naidoo said. ”These raids are going to be held regularly now.”
On September 8, immigrants were marched out of their bedrooms by the police in an early-morning on what was once an upmarket hotel in Hillbrow.
The immigrants, who were from countries such the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, were herded on to O’Reilley Street outside the Coronia Gardens building.
The raid came a day after officers from Booysens police station were shown on a television programme taking bribes to free illegal immigrants.
At the time, Naidoo said the raid was not a public-relations job in reaction to the footage.
”This raid was planned a long time ago,” he said. — Sapa