2 people are fatally shot on a fifth day of protests in the South African city of Cape Town

By Associated Press

CAPE TOWN: Two people were fatally shot on a fifth day of violent protests in the South African city of Cape Town on Monday sparked by a dispute last week between minibus taxi drivers and authorities.

A person was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting near the Cape Town International Airport after a group of protesters pelted a car with stones and the driver responded by firing shots at them, police said. The shooting happened while minubus taxis blockaded a road near the airport, police said.

Police said the shooter would be investigated for murder and attempted murder.

A man died of multiple gunshot wounds in a separate shooting that police said they believed was also related to the protests.

The unrest on the outskirts of South Africa’s second-largest city followed an announcement last Thursday of a weeklong strike by minubus taxi drivers, who are angered at what they call heavy-handed tactics by police and city authorities in impounding some of their vehicles.

A community safety officer was killed Friday night, with city authorities also linking that officer’s death to the protests. Vehicles have been set alight in numerous areas around the outskirts of Cape Town, where large, impoverished townships are often the scene of violent protests. One of the city’s depots was firebombed over the weekend, authorities said.

Cape Town is viewed as one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is South Africa’s tourist highlight, with its majestic Table Mountain and picturesque Atlantic seaboard.