Squatters Riot As Police Try To Demolish Shacks

Squatters fought Thursday with police trying to demolish their cardboard-and-tin shacks so that low-cost housing can be built on the site.

Police fired rubber bullets and grenades after squatters stoned police vehicles trying to open a road for the demolition team, police spokesman Lt. Gert Olivier said. The squatters had blockaded the entrance to the Far East Bank squatter camp in a Johannesburg township.

Violence also broke out Wednesday, when the demolition began under a court order.