7 De Laan and Taxi to Soweto actor, Patrick Shai has been shot by police after trying to play a middle man during a protest about electricity in Dobsonville, Soweto.
According to the Sowetan newspaper, Patrick Shai was rushed to Tshepo Temba Hospital after he took 11 rubber bullets from the police on Monday.
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Speaking with the paper in his home Dobsonville, Patrick Shai said he went to do an early television interview and decided to buy some items at the garage about 9am.
Patrick Shai told the paper that after buying the items, he noticed that the protest which had gone on during the weekend was still on.
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He was quoted as saying, “I moved to the protesters and asked them not to burn tyres on the road. One of the protestors then tried to throw a burning tyre on the road. One cop tried to take the tyre and I said to the guy ‘don’t do it’. But one of the cops simply said asibaboniseni (let us show them).”
According to reports, he told the police officer he cannot say that – ‘let us show them’.
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“I told him ‘that is not the language you should be talking. We should be finding ways to minimise the potential for violence’,” he was quoted as saying.
Patrick Shai said the police decided to run back to their cars. He was then left standing between the police and the community.
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“I only realised that there was trouble when they pulled out the guns from the cars. I raised my hands and begged them not to shoot but they kept advancing. Instead of engaging me, they fired. I turned around and started running and I got hit several times,” he said.
Shai was shot in the neck, back, leg, and arms.
Patrick Shai told the paper that he thought about falling down and lying on the ground but then decided against it as they could have finished him off.
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It is also reported that several other residents were also shot with rubber bullets.
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