The taxi riots in South Africa
Five people dead after taxi strike in South Africa
Five people have been killed in Cape Town as a taxi strike that began last week turned violent, according to Reuters.
The trouble arose after a new municipal law gave local authorities the power to impound vehicles for offenses such as driving without a license or number plates.
Violence erupted in different parts of the city as angry protesters set buses and cars on fire and threw stones at police who impounded vehicles.
South Africa's Police Minister Bheki Cele told a press briefing that 120 suspects had been arrested since Thursday last week.
People commuting to work have been hit hard by the strike and sometimes left stranded due to attacks on public transport.
A covered corpse after the violent taxi protests in South Africa. AP
British doctor died in the strike - turned off on the wrong street
A British doctor was shot dead in Cape Town, South Africa after taking a wrong turn from the airport and facing violent protests linked to a week-long taxi strike, The Guardian reports. He is one of five people who died in the violence that arose in connection with the strike.
- A number of suspected perpetrators approached the doctor, who was traveling in a car with two family members, before they shot him, says Lirandzu Themba, spokesperson for South Africa's Police Minister Bheki Cele.
No suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting and South African authorities are asking Britons to exercise caution when traveling in the country.
"We are particularly upset about the public perception that we are lawless. The perception is driven by protesters and not members of our organisation,” the South African taxi union said in a statement.
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