On Thursday, law enforcement officers in Port Elizabeth rescued a one-year-old baby girl after her father threw her from the roof of a shack in the Joe Slovo township.
According to an eNCA report, police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said that the incident occurred during a demolition conducted by the Nelson Mandela Municipality. Members of both the South African Police Service (SAPS) and PE Metro Police were deployed in order to ensure the safety of the demolition team.
The 38-year-old man clambered onto the roof of one of the structures that was set for demolition, holding his daughter up her her leg, at approximately 10.40 am. The man did this in a desperate bid to stop his home from being demolished.
Police surrounded the shack just before midday and attempted to persuade the father to come down from the roof. With minutes of the rescue attempt, police grabbed the father as he threw his daughter off the roof.
Fortunately, a Metro Police member was able to catch the baby girl as she was being flung.
The father is charged with the attempted murder of his daughter, and the case will be investigated by the Motherwell Cluster Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences unit. Social services will provide oversight as the baby girl is handed back to her mother for care.
This was not the only incident to occur in protest of the demolition.
A group of 150 residents attempted to block a road by setting tires and rubble alight.
Picture: Facebook