Fridges might fly and beds fall from the sky as residents in Johannesburg’s Hillbrow district see in the New Year by throwing broken furniture onto the streets below.
South Africa’s police will send in helicopters, armored vehicles and special units tonight to patrol the unruly area, which has earned a reputation as a trouble spot at the turn of the year.
Every year a dozen-odd people among those who dare to venture outside on Dec. 31 are hit by crashing objects thrown out of high-rise apartment blocks — everything from televisions to kitchen appliances.
“We throw the old stuff because we got new stuff,” said computer repairman Dickens Patwell, a 24-year-old Zimbabwean, who had himself once tipped a bed over his balcony.
People toss “many things, like electrical stuff,” added his friend, fellow Zimbabwean James Thomas.
“Microwaves, broken stoves, televisions ...” the 26-year-old welder said in a bustling Hillbrow street, as minibus taxis hooted loudly for passengers and vendors sold vegetables on the sidewalk. “We don’t throw things during the year, we can’t afford to buy new things then.”
Two years ago an 11-month-old girl was seriously injured after being struck on the head by a brick — one of nine people hospitalized during New Year celebrations in the district that year.
The following year, locals opted to hurl stones rather than furniture at police patrol vehicles, but emergency services still treated 14 people, including one man who had been hit over the head with a bottle.
In its heyday in the 1980s, Hillbrow was the gateway to Johannesburg for cosmopolitan whites.
People from other race groups gradually moved in and it became known as the “Latin quarter,” where black and white South Africans could live together, despite the apartheid regime’s laws against racial mixing.
The cafes and music shops were popular haunts of celebrities and musicians, but at the start of the 1990s rental prices fell, crime increased and the bookshops and music outlets closed. Restaurants moved to other districts and gradually, whites moved away.
Today, thousands of immigrants from other African countries live in Hillbrow and surrounding areas.
South African Beauty Dube, who has lived in Hillbrow for 16 years, said she would be staying indoors with her family to keep safe, but Thomas said the objects were not supposed to hurt people — it was just an easy way to get rid of possessions that did not work anymore.
“We know nobody’s gonna be out. We’re creating jobs for other people,” he said, echoing a popular belief that debris creates employment for street sweepers.
“Those who get hurt are drinkers,” who stay outside too long, Dube added.
Officials are hesitant to blame the violence on foreigners for fear of inciting South Africans against immigrants.
Police believe the main culprits are people who have forcibly taken over buildings, provincial spokesman Tshisikhawe Ndou said.
This year, he said, officials planned an aggressive approach to curb the violence.
“Various units will be deployed — dog units, the flying squad, the equestrian squad, public order police and the technical response team,” he added.
Authorities have also set up base camps in the surrounding area where victims can get emergency medical care.
Meanwhile, Thomas does not want to say what he will cast away at this year’s party, but it seems he will not be able to exchange the goods.
“Some stuff, Papa, ’cause they don’t have guarantee,” he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of