Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, alleges that there is a trend of a small group of pro-Palestine demonstrators becoming violent at the weekly protests in Sea Point. However, there have been several incidents over the past 18 months, in which pro Palestine activists have been targeted, assaulted, and intimidated by those claiming to be in favour of the Zionist regime. These incidents have come to light with little to no action being taken by authorities.
Smith was responding to a message doing the rounds on social media, showing a screenshot calling for increased monitoring of the Sea Point demonstrations. The release of the screenshot coincided with another demonstration in Hatfield, where activists were protesting an event called Zionist Connect. These activists are demanding answers after they were allegedly photographed and followed by law enforcement officials. The activists argued that the Zionist Connect event was being held in contravention of South Africa’s laws, including the protection of human rights, and in the context of the Zionist regime’s continued oppression of Palestinians for more than seven decades.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Professor Usuf Chicktay has since told Radio 786 that demonstrators were filmed and photographed before, during, and after the demonstration in Hatfield. He says that he engaged with the police present at the protest, saying that the private security company, CSO, was in contravention of the Private Security Industry Regulation Act.
Amongst these contraventions, was that the CSO members were visibly armed in areas beyond the venue, they also had face coverings without any identification. The spokesperson for the Association of Private Security Owners of South Africa, Sindiswa Changuion, has separately confirmed that private security officials must be identifiable in case of any transgression.
