Tempers flared at the Congress of the People (Cope) party launch on Monday evening as police stopped carloads of members from canvassing in Mangaung near Bloemfontein to avert clashes with African National Congress (ANC) rivals in the township.

"They wanted to go there in a motorcade of something like 60 cars.

But the Cope leadership saw that there was a possibility of conflict and intervened," a police officer told Sapa.

He said police stopped the Cope motorcade at the entrance to the University of the Free State, where the Cope conference is underway, and party heavyweight Mluleki George tried to placate young members, but with limited success.

Thando Hermans, a youth delegate from the Northern Cape, said Cope members were frustrated because they could not reach voters while the ANC was actively campaigning in and around Bloemfontein.

"I know the police are doing their job but it is unfair. The ANC is there.

"But we had to calm people down because we do not help our cause by emotion," he said as television cameras captured the commotion.

The ANC has launched a political counter offensive in Bloemfontein during Cope's three-day launch there. ANC president Jacob Zuma is to address a rally in Mangaung on Tuesday.

Sapa