* Police begin to evict over 4 thousand residents of Delft Symphony using over 500 private security mercenaries, over 200 police officers, about 20 police vehicles and 3 casspirs.

* Residents decide to peacefully resist by protesting in the streets.

* Large trucks begin removing furniture to an undisclosed location. Residents fear they will never see their belongings again.

* At about 10am, Police (unprovoked and without warning) open fire on residents injuring about 20 people including many women, 3 children, and a 3 year old baby.

* Doctors refuse to treat resident’s injuries until about 5pm.

Monday, 19 February, 2008

After all these years, Leonard and Jerome Isaacs finally think that they may have a home of their own.

Eviction begins at 5:30am while most residents are still asleep

Delft’s children on their way to school but aware that they may return without a home

Heavy police presence, helicopters and casspirs surround the area as early as 6am

Residents claim their constitutional right to peaceful protest

Intimidation begins…

Despite intimidation by security forces and police, residents remain calm

Residents become angry when their belongings get loaded onto trucks and have no idea where it will be taken. Rumors abound that their things will be dropped of in an empty field a few kilometers away.

People begin removing their belongings from a truck.

Police react violently by throwing stun grenades and shooting indiscriminately into a crowd of 300 men, women and children.

For video footage of the shooting, please visit:

http://westerncapeantieviction.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/police-brutality-in-delft-caught-on-tape/

The facts:

• Residents and media present say that the police opened fire on residents without being threatened first with violence. This is a clear violation of people’s rights.

• About 20 residents were shot. Most were shot in the back as they were running away.• Most people shot were women and children.• 3 children in school uniforms were shot• A 3 year old child was shot twice; once in the foot and again in the back. This could have killed him. The child is now sick with a fever.• A man was shot in the back of the thigh while lying face-first on a mattress on the ground.

• numerous witnesses say a woman curled up in a ball around her child was held at gunpoint by a police officer and ordered to run away so he could shoot her from a non-lethal distance.

For a statement in Afrikaans by one of the people shot, visit:

http://westerncapeantieviction.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/a-delft-resident-who-was-shot-by-police-afrikaans/

The 3 year old who was shot in the foot and in the back