[imagesource: Shavan Rahim/Eat Out/ Twitter]

Earlier this week, restaurant workers, owners, and affiliates united under the hashtag #JobsSaveLives and took to the streets to protest the government’s lack of action to help them sustain the industry.

Sit-down establishments and other parts of the hospitality industry have been allowed to resume operations for the most part, but the limitations imposed on them by alcohol sales bans and curfews, over and above the losses that they faced in the first few months of lockdown, have brought them to their knees.

Last night, the president addressed the nation, mentioning corruption in the ranks and plans to deal with it (we’ll see how that plays out), and the plan for closing and then reopening schools.

The struggles faced by the hospitality and restaurant industry didn’t receive so much as a nod.

So, as happens when people are ignored, protesters gathered outside Parliament, this time adding #ServeUsPlease to #JobsSaveLives, before they were dispersed with stun grenades and water cannons.

Image: @SnapShotForez/ Twitter

The protests were peaceful and didn’t warrant the level of force used to discourage the roughly 200 people present, but it seems that when it comes to policing crowds, those at the top will jump on any excuse to roll out the Hippo and riot gear.

Watch it go down:

The video above doesn’t capture the worst of it.

For that, let’s hand over to Twitter users on the ground:

#RT @jaynielea: RT @AshrafRSA: Stun grenades and water canon used to disperse protesters outside Parliament. Protesters from the hospitality and tourism industry are protesting. @GroundUp_News #serveusplease pic.twitter.com/IpvCdeLffr

— adviceanon (@adviceanon2) July 24, 2020

This it how government responded to the peaceful #serveusplease protest – a group seeking refuge being attacked! Stun grenades, water cannons and arrests. SAVE US! #jobssavelives pic.twitter.com/zUVizYEXQ6

— Roxanne Lombard (@roxylombard) July 24, 2020

Went to the #serveusplease peaceful protest this morning then the riot police arrived and started using water canons to disperse the very chilled crowd. And I saw someone being arrested 😱 #JobsSaveLives I didn’t get a pic of the police. They were terrifying 🤯 pic.twitter.com/rk2vvPQ6GQ

— Sam Linsell 🍊🥑🍍🥦🥃 (@drizzleanddip) July 24, 2020

Police are now patrolling the city Centre asking everyone to “clear the area”. I saw 2 people being detained @GroundUp_News #serveusplease pic.twitter.com/tLYhkM8POG

— Ashraf Hendricks (@AshrafRSA) July 24, 2020

You’ll find more videos and images if you search the hashtag #ServeUsPlease on Twitter.

A photographer covering the event, Shavan Rahim, told News24 that police officers he had spoken to admitted that while “they didn’t enjoy using stun grenades…they were under strict instruction to disperse the crowd”.

It’s difficult not to interpret the force used against protesters as an answer from government to their pleas, in lieu of the deafening silence that they have received thus far.

[source:news24]