Gallery Update
KNYSNA NEWS - Amid all the riots and chaos in Hornlee, Knysna over the weekend, shop owner Sojib Khan found himself an unfortunate victim as his store was pillaged by looters, who left nothing behind.
Hornlee descended into absolute bedlam yesterday (20 September) when residents of Hornlee fought back against members of the Red Ants eviction service, who were demolishing houses that the municipality had deemed illegally built.
Conflict began brewing as early as 07:00 on Sunday morning in Hall Street. Thereafter it quickly grew, and escalated to the point where rioters began driving police and Red Ants back up through Hornlee towards the N2.
About three hours after it started, they had eventually driven the various law enforcement role players past the Lamco Service Station and onto the N2, which they subsequently closed with debris.
The situation continued until just after 17:00 when the N2 was fully reopened. By this time, however, the damage had been done. Due to its close proximity to the N2,
Khan had closed his shop as soon as rioters began getting close, but this did not deter the looters. "They broke down the gate of my shop and forced their way in," said Khan, who has owned and run the shop for the past three years.
The inside of the store was completely ransacked, with no stock left behind.
It was at this point that Khan and his employees fled the shop out of fear for their safety, and he had to watch on from a distance how his only business was slowly taken away from him, piece by piece.
"They took everything in the shop, there is nothing left that I can use. I still have my shelves and fridges, but they are all empty," he said. Khan also lives on the premises, in a room behind the shop, which the looters also got into. "They took my clothes and my washing machine, they even tried to break into the ATM we had but were not able to."
Photo gallery: Chaos and looting amid riot
Khan was devastated by the loss of his shop as it is his only source of income, and he does not know what to do. "I do not know how I can restart again. I lost so much because of this. How do I go on from this?"
Read more in this week’s edition of the Knysna-Plett Herald.
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