Thursday, 07 July 2011 20:39
JOHANNESBURG - The Somali Community in Johannesburg is furious after police raided the Somali owned Amal shopping mall located in Mayfair. Police raided the mall on Monday afternoon reportedly looking for a migration consultant who occupies an office in the mall. The consultant whose identity is known to VOC, but is being withheld for legal reasons, is reportedly wanted in connection with falsifying several migration documents for clients, some of whom have been arrested.
"We know the police were doing their work, but the way they treated shop owners at the mall was so bad. Why did they have to fire live ammunition? In addition, they forced some people to lie down on the floor," one irate source related. He also claimed that some police officers used derogatory words against the Somali business owners, such as Makwere-kwere (a Zulu word for foreigner or people who speak gibberish).
The leadership of the Somali community in Johannesburg also expressed unhappiness with the behaviour of the police officers and said they would forward their complaint to higher authorities. During the raid it is alleged that some police officers assaulted people in the mall, which enraged business owners.
This led to a confrontation with the police officers. The officers called for back up after angry community members surrounded them. A dozen police officers who arrived at the scene to reinforce their colleagues, then reportedly used tear gas canisters to control the enraged Mayfair Somali community.
Cape Town brutality
This is not the first time that the police are being accused of treating foreign nationals harshly. In February, the police in Mfuleni township on the outskirts of Cape Town were accused of assaulting and arresting two Somali shop keepers for apparently no reason. The two Somali shop keepers told VOC they were arrested by the police because they refused to give them freebies.
"The police officer had R1.30 and wanted a cigarette when he knew it costs R1.50. He then gave me a R100 note after I had refused to give him a cigarette at R1.30. The officer then warned me that I would regret refusing to give him a cigarette at a discounted price. The officer said he would make sure that I closed my shop at 7pm instead of 9m as usual," Mahied Faaraan, a shopkeeper in Mfuleni said.
He said at first, he thought the police officer was joking but at 7:30pm on the same night the police officer came back and asked why the shop was still open. He said the police officer then handcuffed him and his brother before beating them and taking them to the police station, where they were charged for notorious behaviour. They were later released on bail of R100 each.
In a separate incident on New Year's eve, four white police officers attached to the Bellville crime intelligence unit, were accused of assaulting 24 year old Yusuf Ibrahim Hassan, a Somali refugee. The Somali was asleep when police officers raided a Somali owned back packers where he resided together with 40 others. "I was a sleep when cops raided our Backpackers. I was woken up by heavy kicks in my ribs and a big bang in the face," he told VOC at the time.
"When I was a young boy, I thought justice and equality would be my birthright. Unfortunately, I have since learnt that I have no rights in this world," he said. To make matters, Hassan's shop was looted during the 2008 xenophobic attacks. He said he fled his home country Somali in pursuit of a better life and a peaceful environment, but has since found none.
A national police spokesperson has said the police will institute an inquiry into the alleged cases of brutality. VOC
