Clashes erupt as Pagad protests against drugs and gangsterism

LAW enforcement officers and members of the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) group clashed in Bonteheuwel and Beacon Valley yesterday.

- KIM SWARTZ

Pagad joined frustrated residents in Bonteheuwel and Beacon Valley, Mitchells Plain, to march against gangsterism and drugs, but were stopped in Bonteheuwel while they were told to take off their masks in Mitchells Plain.

In Bonteheuwel, Pagad’s national coordinator Haroon Orrie had planned a motorcade through the streets. But they were met by Public Order Police, who said they did not have permission to proceed.

One angry resident told officers: “They are here today to march for peace. Go to the gangsters and merchants who murder our children.”

Orrie added: “The war against gangsterism and drugs will never end, until such time as every gangster and every drug dealer surrenders to the will of the Almighty God.