From the news desk

More negotiations to get underway following Hermanus protests

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Relative calm has been restored in Hermanus with fresh negotiations expected after clashes between authorities and the community earlier on Friday.

We are about to clear the last road. The community has agreed to go back to the negotiation table on Monday,” police spokesperson Brigadier Donovan Heilbron said on Friday.

Heilbron said that most of the roads in the area had been cleared by the evening.

“We just have one that we are on at the moment. The mayor has spoken to the community as well.”

Police and protesters clashed over land after Mount Pleasant residents erected shacks near the R43 after they were not mentioned in the council’s emergency housing plans.

Protests flared up overnight on Thursday, and then again on Friday afternoon.

No arrests

Heilbron said annoyed Mount Pleasant residents took to the R43. Stun grenades were fired to disperse groups of people who had set tyres alight. There were no arrests.

Heilbron said he facilitated a meeting between protesters and Overstrand council official Rodney Williams.
Williams told protesting residents the only reason Mount Pleasant was not mentioned in the emergency housing plans was because the site had not been approved yet.

The road along the popular whale route was strewn with burning tyres overnight, but the area had been cleared by around 03:00 on Friday to allow passage for motorists and to stabilise the area for matriculants writing their exams.

During a protest in Mount Pleasant in May protesters said they felt that their neighbours in Zwelihle were getting attention and that they were left out.

[Source: News24]
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