JOHANNESBURG - At least four people were reported killed and 200 injured yesterday as protests in Johannesburg's mixed-race suburbs degenerated into the worst riots since South Africa's transition to democracy in 1994.
Windows were smashed and barricades set ablaze as a protest against municipal water and electricity rates in the former mixed-race-only township of Eldorado Park, southwest of Johannesburg, touched off armed clashes between police and mainly "coloured" (mixed race) demonstrators.
At least four civilians - including a seven-year old boy - were shot dead in pitched battles between armed protesters and police who resorted first to tear gas and rubber bullets, and later to live ammunition, police, hospital and morgue officials told the domestic SAPA news agency.
More than 200 others were injured, SAPA said citing hospital officials, although police told AFP that only 25 people, including 14 police officers, had been injured in the violence. The casualties included a photojournalist, Thys Dullart of Johannesburg's Star newspaper, who was wounded in the neck by police buckshot.