Civil rights group to challenge ‘restriction’ from BRICS protest

This comes as Amnesty International South Africa and partners, the Ukrainian Association of South Africa and the Helen Suzman Foundation, staged a peaceful demonstration calling for an end to the invasion of Ukraine and for the crackdown of anti-war protesters in Russia to stop.

The organisation’s Omuhle Ntshingila said it was concerned this decision by law enforcement authorities delegitimises the Regulations Gathering Act and the constitutional right to protest.

“Protest is about visibility. Protestors have the right to be visible in the area they wish to protest in and also to the people whom they wish to protest to, of course reasonably and peacefully.

“We don’t think there was enough consultation done by JMPD and public order policing on the distance of protesters on where they can stand and how they can navigate their protest during the BRICS summit.”

Amnesty International South Africa’s Sibusiso Khasa said the decision bordered on curtailing the freedom of expression.

“We can’t get our message directly to the leaders gathered there. So, we must rely on the media to help us get the message that we are calling for Russia to recall its troops from Ukraine.”

This was echoed by a representative for the Ukrainian Association in South Africa, Lesya Karpenko.

“We were sent here as aliens, not to protest and destroy the picture of welcoming Russia here. So, it’s obvious they didn’t want us here,” Karpenko said.

Ntshingila said while they failed to launch an urgent application with the courts, they planned to file a civil application as they believed allowing the decision to go unchallenged would set e precedent that promised to disadvantage protesters.

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