South African police and army units staged a high-profile parade in Johannesburg on Wednesday, showcasing helicopters and motorcycle units in preparation for expected protests surrounding the Group of 20 (G20) leaders’ summit this weekend.
Authorities have reinforced security with 3,500 additional police officers and placed the army on standby under the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure, which coordinates the country’s police, military, and intelligence agencies for major events.
Deputy National Commissioner for Policing Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili said demonstrations are anticipated not only in Johannesburg but also in other major South African cities. “We will allow that right [to protest] to be exercised,” she told reporters, “but within the proper directives and proper confines of the law.”
Police have designated specific zones near the summit venue, an exhibition center adjacent to South Africa’s largest football stadium, for protesters to gather. Demonstrations are expected from climate activists, women’s rights campaigners, anti-migrant groups, and anticapitalist organisations, many of whom plan to draw attention to South Africa’s poverty and inequality.
The summit, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, will bring leaders and top diplomats from more than 40 countries and international organisations such as the United Nations. The United States, however, is boycotting, citing claims—widely rejected as baseless—that South Africa’s Black-led government is discriminating against its Afrikaner minority.
A local Afrikaner trade union, Solidarity, has added to tensions by erecting billboards declaring, “Welcome to the most RACE-REGULATED country in the world,” a reference to South Africa’s affirmative action policies. City authorities have removed at least one billboard, prompting Solidarity to threaten legal action.
South Africa’s government rejected US demands that the summit issue no leaders’ declaration, stating that Washington had forfeited its influence by boycotting the event.
Women for Change, an advocacy group, is urging a nationwide work boycott on Friday to protest South Africa’s high rates of femicide. “Because until South Africa stops burying a woman every 2.5 hours, the G20 cannot speak of growth and progress,” the group said.
Meanwhile, an anti-immigration group plans demonstrations highlighting the country’s 31% unemployment rate, while climate and inequality activists have organised a parallel “alternative summit” beginning Thursday, denouncing the G20 as “for the rich.”
Â
Africa Digital News, New YorkÂ
