Scenes from the DA march in the Johannesburg CBD.
Police have confirmed that a Democratic Alliance supporter has been seriously injured after being beaten by ANC supporters outside the party’s Luthuli House precinct after trying to walk through the area with a DA flag.
“He will be transported to hospital. It is reported that he was beaten. We do not yet know whether the attackers were using any weapons. We haven’t made any arrests but we will be investigating,” Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters told the Mail & Guardian.
The man wrapped the flag around his neck and started walking past the ANC’s Luthuli House when he was noticed by a big crowd of ANC supporters. The man stared running towards the Gauteng legislature where he was caught by a group of men who started beating him.
He was eventually rescued by the police, who helped him into a police van and rushed him to hospital. Another four people were shot with rubber bullets when members of the Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association tried to break through the police barricades to reach the DA’s gathering point.
Most of the ANC supporters who travelled to Luthuli House from the Free State and Mpumalanga have boarded busses and are leaving the area.