At this time of the year, shopping malls become almost unbearable, as everyone rushes to begrudgingly buy gifts for friends and family.

You haven’t lived until you’ve seen two folks arguing over a kids toy, but sadly this below isn’t the kind of altercation that we can have a chuckle over.

If you were at Canal Walk yesterday, you might have seen the clashes between striking Dis-Chem workers and police, with four men aged between 31 and 41 arrested.

News24 reports:

The Western Cape manager of the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw), Omar Parker, said that police had scuffled with demonstrators who insisted on protesting in front of the shop.

“Employees have been without salary since November 16 and have lost hope. We have asked our members to remain calm, but they are desperate. We are appealing to the employer to normalise the situation. Workers who are currently on duty are being given incentives and [are] mocking the ones on strike. The employer is dividing the workers,” he said.

One video, widely shared on Twitter, shows just how violent the clashes were:

Some crazy scene’s at Canal Walk. @Dischem workers on strike and attacking the police. Eventually Police retaliated and arrested some of the people who assaulted them. This violent protesting really needs to stop South Africa. You can air your grievances in a peaceful manner. pic.twitter.com/foC5Na40c3

— Renaldo Gouws (@RenaldoGouws) December 5, 2018

Dis-Chem said that it respects the rights of workers to strike, but that “violence and intimidation had left them no choice but to approach the courts”.

For me, it’s just another reason to avoid malls at any cost.

[source:news24]