Zuma Riots in South Africa taking an ugly turn, as the death toll climbed to 72 from rioting in South Africa on Tuesday. The riots sparked off after the former President Jacob Zuma was arrested and jailed.
The situation is tense, as the riots started spreading with many people trampled to death during rioting at stores, as police and the military fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to try to halt the unrest set off by the imprisonment last week of former President Jacob Zuma.
The death toll rose to 72 from rioting in South Africa on According to news coming in on Tuesday, with many people trampled to death during looting at stores, as police and the military fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to try to halt the unrest set off by the imprisonment last week of former President Jacob Zuma.
More than 1,200 people have been arrested in the lawlessness that has raged in poor areas of two provinces, where a community radio station was ransacked and forced off the air Tuesday and some COVID-19 vaccination centres were closed, disrupting urgently needed inoculations.
The armed forces were sending 2,500 soldiers to help the overwhelmed police.
But these numbers are dwarfed by the more than 70,000 troops deployed to enforce last year’s coronavirus lockdown, and only a handful of soldiers were seen at some shopping centres.
Zuma riots turns ugly as death toll rises
The raging unrest first erupted last Friday after former president Jacob Zuma started serving a 15-month term for contempt, having snubbed a probe into the corruption that stained his nine years in power.
By the weekend, it started spreading to Gauteng province.
“The total number of people who have lost their lives since the beginning of these protests … has risen to 72,” the police said in a statement late Tuesday.
More than 1,200 people have been arrested in the lawlessness that has raged in poor areas of two provinces, where a community radio station was ransacked and forced off the air Tuesday and some COVID-19 vaccination centres were closed, disrupting urgently needed inoculations.
