Group torches police vehicle over illegal booze
Police arrested a shebeen owner on Saturday morning for trading without a valid license in Muldersdrift, west of Johannesburg.
The arrest follows an attack by a group of people on two police officers and the burning of a police vehicle at an informal settlement in Rietfontein.
The owner is facing charges of contravening the Gauteng Liquor Board legislation for trading in liquor without a license, contravention of the Disaster Management Act, Covid-19 level 1 lockdown regulations that prohibit the sale of alcohol after 11 pm.
Gauteng police spokesperson Mathapelo Peters says the community threatened to kill the police officers for closing the shebeen.
"It is reported that the members from Muldersdrift SAPS were attending to a complaint of disturbance of public peace at Video informal settlement, Rietfontein when the two members were attacked by an aggressive group of people.
"The members sought cover in a nearby shack as the group continued to pelt them with objects, allegedly threatening to kill the police members.
"The two members, with one of them injured, managed to escape out of the shack and realized that the group had allegedly torched the state vehicle and Public Order Police arrived and managed to quell the situation."
