South African police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators burning tyres and stoning cars on a highway into Cape Town today in protest at government failures to provide basic amenities.
About 20 people were reportedly hospitalised. Police admitted they had fired at the crowd but did not confirm reports of injuries.
The protest temporarily shut the busy road linking Cape Town with its airport.
Thousands of South Africans from mostly black townships and shantytowns have taken to the streets in recent months to voice anger over the lack of electricity, water and sewage and other services in poor neighbourhoods.
In some cases, crowds have attacked and even killed officials of the ruling African National Congress, which had vowed to improve the quality of life for millions of blacks who continue to live on the margins of the country's booming economy.