By Rorisang Modiba
- A vendor kept selling sweets and biscuits from a plastic bag while marching with protesters outside Sunnyside Police Station in Pretoria.
- He says foreign nationals take up space in town and called locals “not lazy” while demanding they leave.
A street vendor stood in the middle of the March and March protest outside Sunnyside Police Station in Pretoria, still working. He held a plastic bag of sweets and biscuits in one hand, picking out items to sell, while the crowd chanted around him.
He did not want to give his name. He described himself as a hustler.
“Those people are saying we are lazy, we are lazy, and we are not lazy,” he said.
“They are taking too much space in town and we are not lazy. They must go.”
The protest was organised by civic groups including the March and March movement. Demonstrators outside the police station demanded stricter enforcement of immigration laws, the deportation of undocumented foreign nationals, and that South Africans be given first pick of jobs and local business opportunities.
Some protesters knelt on the ground. Others sang struggle songs while they waited for police to come out.
The crowd shouted “Amandla! Awethu!” and called on police to act against buildings in Sunnyside they say are occupied by undocumented foreign nationals.
The protest was still going at the time of publication. It was not yet clear how police would respond to the demands.
Pictured above: A street vendor sells sweets and biscuits from a plastic bag while taking part in the March and March protest outside Sunnyside Police Station in Pretoria.
Image source: Rorisang Modiba
