South Africa Police Clash With Blacks; Three Protesters Hurt

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —  Police used tear gas and rubber bullets against black protesters Saturday on the 10th straight day of unrest around southeastern industrial cities.

The new violence came on the eve of funerals scheduled for five blacks killed in clashes with police.

A spokesman at national police headquarters in Pretoria reported at least 10 outbreaks of violence in Zwide, Veeplaas and Kirkwood townships, near Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage on the southeastern coast, and in a township near Cradock, 110 miles to the north.

Trucks were reported set ablaze, and a school in Veeplaas was torched with gasoline bombs.

The police spokesman said three blacks were arrested and hospitalized under police guard for treatment of injuries. The reason for their arrests was not known.

More than 80 blacks have died in a month of fierce rioting. Independent monitoring groups estimate that nearly 300 blacks have died since resentment at the white-minority government’s race-separation policies exploded into violence across South Africa eight months ago.

There are 22 million blacks and 5 million whites in South Africa.

Nineteen blacks perished outside Uitenhage on March 21 when police fired on a crowd marching toward the whites-only industrial city, touching off battles.

Residents said black townships near Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage were tense before funerals scheduled today for five blacks, including two killed in the March 21 shootings. Funerals frequently become flashpoints for anti-apartheid rioting.

Many recent attacks have been on black policemen, municipal councilors or other blacks seen as fronting for the white-led government.

The 4-year-old child of a female ward committee member in Kwazekele was killed Friday night when a crowd set fire to her home.

The police spokesman in Pretoria said “sporadic and minor” incidents of arson and stoning also occurred late Friday in townships around Port Elizabeth, and that police used tear gas, rubber bullets and shotguns to disperse crowds.

The government on Friday banned meetings in the Port Elizabeth region by 29 groups opposed to the government’s race-separation policy, including the United Democratic Front, the nationwide alliance against apartheid.