Police fired rubber bullets to disperse a rowdy crowd who tried to prevent DA leader Helen Zille from addressing residents at Winterveldt, north of Pretoria on Sunday.

About 500 people had gathered at Slovoville Park making fires with braai stands and burning DA flags in front of a stage erected for Zille's address, said spokesperson Inspector llisi Ramatlo.

"They were very aggressive when police tried to speak to them so they were dispersed by firing rubber bullets. Seven people were arrested and some people were slightly wounded. We don't know how many at this point," said Ramatlo.

The situation was brought under control and Zille was able to make her address and left safely.

"These people obviously had ulterior motives," said Ramatlo.

According to SABC news, during her address, Zille said no-one will intimidate her from addressing people anywhere in the country.

She said if the people trying to disrupt her address were ANC members, President Jacob Zuma would be very embarrassed by their actions.

In a media statement issued after the incident, Zille condemned the disruption of the meeting as "unconstitutional."

"The police acted promptly and professionally to protect our right to hold the meeting, by dispersing the crowd and defending our right to gather and to speak."

Independent Democrats leader Patricia De Lille said she appealed to all political parties to respect the constitutional right for people to belong to the party of their choice.

"The Independent Democrats condemns the political intolerance of whoever was responsible for disrupting the meeting of DA leader Helen Zille," she said in a statement.

Join our Facebook fan page Follow us on Twitter

Sapa

No galaxy too far for JZ In his latest satirical column, Ryan Bubear reports on the president's intergalactic lovin'...
No place to call home Thousands of Zimbabwean refugees call a filthy Joburg church home. They have no other choice.
Jacob Zuma Pull up your pants, Zuma Rebekah Kendal reckons that it's time for our Lothario president to pull up his pants...
RSS
Digg
de.li.cious
facebook