A video of a group of people attacking a Johannesburg Metro Police (JMPD) officer has gone viral on both Twitter and Facebook.
The video of the incident, which was captured in Hillbrow on Sunday, depicts members of a Johannesburg church congregation pushing, disarming and beating a JMPD officer.
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The cause of the incident was reportedly the towing of an illegally parked car.
Quoted by News24, JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said that the officer at the centre of the incident was left “beaten” and “unconscious” and was later “rushed to Milpark Hospital”.
The two-minute-long video, initially uploaded to Facebook by Yusuf Abramjee, received more than 30 000 views on the social network, alongside 770 shares and over 80 comments.
Look how @JMPDSafety officers are being attacked in Hillbrow. @CityofJoburgZA @MichaelSun168 @HermanMashaba @MakeSAsafe @MbalulaFikile VIDEO pic.twitter.com/oBQypHk8Pf
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) November 12, 2017
Abramjee also uploaded the clip to his Twitter account, where it received a further 1100 retweets, more than 500 likes and a further 400 comments.
It also began trending in South Africa late Sunday evening.
Reactions to the incident on social media were mixed.
Some users took the side of the JMPD, suggesting that police should be allowed to “shoot when provoked”.
The lack of respect for the officers was another talking point.
This is nonsense Police must be allowed to shoot when provoked like this……
— MALIKS
(@malikswampotsi) November 12, 2017
OMG! this is shocking, how dare these people disrespect aba bomthetho kanje, these hooligans belong behind bars
— Maro (@Bhatsi) November 12, 2017
Others felt that the whole story wasn’t being told, and claimed that police provoked the anger.
South Africa’s police as a whole was also called into question.
Says someone who was not even there and sees only one side of the story. pic.twitter.com/wh2uJVtj2L
— Mathench Mbuyisa (@MathenchM) November 12, 2017
The Revelation Church is church for everyone, not foreigners only. Who in their right mind would attack police for no reason? People pls use your minds. @JMPDSafety JMPDhas been attacking the church from kdala. Get your facts straight b4 commenting..
— Xoli Lino (@xoli_lino) November 12, 2017
This is a biased report. South African police have become a mess. They bring no good in this country but just kill nd attack innocent civilians nd pretend to be victims. This is exactly what they did in Marikana. #NoToSpiritualCapture
— Aviwe Tshikila (@Vee_Phina) November 12, 2017
Tshotsho! that will teach JMPD to stop bullying innocent people. pic.twitter.com/xSlxtgspz9
— Pinkeigh Nono-T33 (@Nontobeko_MM) November 12, 2017
Some on Twitter claimed to be at the scene, noting that police “intruded” the church premises and left some members “brutally beaten”.
“These JMPD where intruders to the innocent church members a woman was brutally beaten like a dog for trying to stand up for her church where is that video Abramjee ?? (sic)” one user tweeted.
The police attacked us, violated our right to practice our religion nd forced entry into our church, members of our chch were evn beaten up. We were not evn armed so y were shots fired? So mch for police bng provoked #NoToSpiritualCapture #NgekeSivume
— Aviwe Tshikila (@Vee_Phina) November 12, 2017
This is all lies why can’t the media post the truth for a change , i was there i saw it all live !! These JMPD where intruders to the innocent church members a woman was brutally beaten like a dog for trying to stand up for her church where is that video Abramjee ??
— Mimi_life (@michell_mhlanga) November 12, 2017
Some however had time to miss former national police commissioner Bheke Cele.
I didn’t like Bheki Cele but now I think he is all we need right now!
— Charles (@charlesmbale) November 12, 2017
— Xolile Mbalo (@MbaloXolile) November 12, 2017
Michael Sun, the councillor and MMC for Public Safety in the City of Johannesburg tweeted a brief statement late Sunday evening, stating that “we will track the culprits and bring them down to face the full might of the law.”
Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba and South Africa’s Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula were also tagged in Abramjee’s tweet, but have yet to respond.
H/T: News24
Feature image: screenshot, Yusuf Abramjee @Abramjee via Twitter
