Three hundred and twelve towns and cities across South Africa will tomorrow take part in the largest protest action against crime ever in South Africa. The Solidarity Movement (Solidarity, AfriForum and Solidarity Helping Hand) have announced a national day of protest against crime on 19 May to protest against the horrendous crime situation in the country.
Solidarity has also called on South Africans who cannot attend a local protest action to wear red tomorrow.
The national day of protest against crime will unite South Africans in more than 300 towns and cities across the country when a memorandum is handed over to local police stations. In the memorandum, South Africans will officially protest against the bloody crime situation in South Africa and demand that action be taken by the SAPS and government in this regard.
The single largest gathering of the day will take place in Pretoria. Thousands of residents of Pretoria will get together in the city and make an urgent appeal to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the government to intervene and bring an end to the terrible bloodshed in the city, province and country.
“Crime in Pretoria and in the rest of the province is completely out of control. Gauteng has the dubious title of crime capital of the country, and that is why we will get together in the capital of South Africa, in the province with the highest level of crime in the country, to protest against crime en masse,” explained Dr. Dirk Hermann, deputy general secretary of Solidarity. Smaller, similar events will also be held in several towns and cities across all provinces.
The gathering in Pretoria will be held at the Harlequins Club, in Totius Street in Groenkloof (see attached map). The event will kick off at 10:00 with performances by well-known artists, including Mean Mr Mustard, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Beeskraal, Freddy Nest, Robbie Klay, Adam Tas, Andries Botha, Sunette Bridges, MarNet and Hennie Smit.
The highlight of the event in Pretoria will be between 12:00 en 14:00 when protest teams depart from the gathering to hand over memorandums to 27 police stations in Pretoria. From 12:30, victims of crime and their families will hold a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate their loved ones. At 13:00, a memorandum will be handed over to the SAPS at the gathering.
The media are invited to attend the event in Pretoria:
Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Time: Highlight between 12:00 and 14:00
Place: Harlequins Club, Totius Street, Groenkloof
Map to Harlequins
Another map to Harlequins
Unfortunately, I could not physically take part in today’s protest, as I am still recovering from surgery. I was however present at the first Cape Talk “Silence the Violence” march to the City Hall in Cape Town. Nevertheless, I have created a visual protest called “POLICE ON EARTH” on my personal Facebook page – in sympathy with your cause. It is a stamp collection depicting effective policing around the civilized world – as a constant reminder of our dire levels of crime and violence and for South Africans to see what effective policing should and could look like over here – given the needed political will to deal with the situation. (e.g. by example) I urge people to post this link wherever they can as a small but welcome show of support.
http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=91854944486&view=all#!/album.php?aid=58406&id=1019518754
THE LINK ABOVE IS WRONG. IT IS AS FOLLOWS:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=58406&id=1019518754&l=e3a0b7ab9f