The City of Cape Town and SPCA will renew efforts to get national government to ban fireworks following another Guy Fawkes marred by injuries and smearing across the Cape Flats on Monday.
Mayco Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, says communities are being terrorised by thugs and the City recorded 11 injuries and dozens of incidents of violent smearing.
Among these is a boy in Delft whose hands were injured by klappertjies, two girls aged seven and 10 were hurt at Strandfontein Pavilion along with four men, and four adults sustained minor facial injuries at Athlone Stadium.
Smith says there was a low turnout at the designated sites, but Law Enforcement officers still had their hands full in Lavender Hill, Parkwood, Kensington and Grassy Park.
“They are no longer just targeting pedestrians, but also vehicles,” he says.
“The weapons that our staff confiscated included hockey sticks, golf clubs, condoms filled with paint and excrement and who knows what else.
Guy Fawkes revelry
“What’s even more concerning is that so many of the culprits are children.”
In Tafelsig, a crowd of about 400 stoned two Metro Police patrol vehicles and set tyres alight in the road. The Public Order Policing Unit fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
“We will also renew our efforts to get national government to consider the banning of fireworks,” Smith adds.
SPCA inspectors were up until 1am on Tuesday dealing with the fireworks fallout.
In Mitchells Plain, a pit bull injured her hind leg and almost impaled herself on a fence in an attempt to escape, while in Athlone a dog lost her eye as a result of fireworks.