The Eldorado Park community, south of Johannesburg, will be marching to the police station on Sunday afternoon calling for an end to police brutality.
This follows the fatal shooting of 16- year-old Nathaniel Julies. Julies was shot and killed on Wednesday, resulting in unrest as angry community members sought justice for the murder of the teenage boy with down syndrome.
Two police officers have since been arrested and face murder charges, defeating the ends of justice and possession of prohibited ammunition.
Community activist, Keith Duarte says they have also mobilised communities in surrounding areas to join in the march.
“Nothing is new with regards to our new democratic system whereby a police person, who is supposed to keep them safe, kill and murder and cover the murder. This is uncalled for and this cannot happen in this new democratic dispensation.”
The boy’s family says they had just finished eating supper on Wednesday evening when he went outside the house to play with his friends, as he normally did.
His stepfather Clint Smit says Nathaniel was standing behind a stationary truck, hiding from his friends when a police vehicle arrived. Smit says according to witnesses, one police officer shot Nathaniel once in the chest, when he couldn’t explain what he was doing there, because of his condition.
“The policeman, I don’t know they call him Scorpion, he was getting out of the car, to go to my son and shoot him. When I came to the gate, the police van was already speeding up to that point by the stop sign. He was already in the van; they picked him up and threw him in the van, in the back of the van. When he shot my son, he was calling my friends, they came, two of them picked him up, threw him in the van and they sped off. I found my people in Bara. The people there by Bara say the police came and said he was in a gang fight.”
Members of the community speak out:
