Cape poo-flingers target the N2

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Cape Town - Cape Town’s poo protesters ran amok again on Sunday, forcing the closure of a part of the N2 when they flung faeces at motorists, forcing some to stop and drive back against traffic. This is the latest incident in a campaign that has seen the Western Cape legislature and Cape Town International Airport vandalised with waste by protesters in recent months. Some panicked motorists were forced to turn around on Sunday - driving in the wrong direction on the N2 - after a group of protesters barricaded the road and flung portable toilets and faeces at vehicles. Traffic on the incoming lane of the N2 near the Mew Way off-ramp ground to a halt late on Sunday afternoon as a group of men lined the road, armed with portable loos and bags of faeces. Cars travelling on the road, where the speed limit is 120km, braked hard or were forced to slow down as the protesters approached.

Some drivers swerved, almost hitting the barricade in the middle of the highway.

A few drivers, some with children, who sped up and rammed through the barricade, had poo splashed across their vehicles and portaloos flung at their windows.

With canisters filled with faeces in hand, the protesters poured the waste on the tar and some hurled toilets over the barricade on to the opposite outgoing lane of the N2.

A tattered mattress and tyre were set alight while other protesters jeered at the vehicles’ occupants.

A city law enforcement vehicle arrived on the scene within minutes.

But the officers quickly backed up - reversing their vehicle as the protesters moved towards them, threatening to throw more faeces.

Soon afterwards, several police vehicles arrived.

As a fourth police vehicle pulled up, stun grenades were tossed at the protesters as the officers alighted.

Groups of onlookers - watching from the fence separating Khayelitsha and the N2 - and protesters dashed in through a hole in the fence before disappearing among the shacks.

A man in a yellow T-shirt was apprehended, but the onlookers told police he was not one of the protesters and he was released.

Earlier in the afternoon, 15 members of a task team that had been set up to lead protests following the arrest of protesters at the Cape Town International Airport for throwing faeces, held a press conference at a hall in Khayelitsha.

Police vehicles were parked outside the hall.

Task team members said they believed they were being monitored by police since the arrest of nine people - including former ANC councillor Andile Lili and ANC proportional councillor Loyiso Nkohla - for the poo-throwing incident at the airport.

The task team vowed to continue fighting and would continue to make the province “ungovernable”.

In a statement the task team said: “Faeces will fly until people’s demands are met”.

A march is planned for Wednesday, including one to the offices of the National Prosecuting Authority to demand that charges against the seven people arrested be withdrawn.

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Cape Argus