By Violet Gonda
5 July 2005

Riot police were at it again in Hatcliffe Extension on Monday. Despite saying they are winding down, the police returned to the township and pulled down over 100 prefabricated wooden cabins. The news agency Associated Press said the police also destroyed a cabin with iron bars, in which screaming children had taken refuge. The children escaped unharmed, but another resident was injured when a sheet of roofing fell on his foot.
It's reported that truckloads of paramilitary troops raided Hatcliffe, smashing homes, chasing street vendors and seizing their wares, witnesses said.

Officials have said they are targeting illegal structures, but Hatcliffe residents said they are being forced from land and homes given to them by the government itself, ahead of elections in recent years.
The raids continue, right under the nose of the fact finding mission led by a UN special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka.