The protest march through Johannesburg went off without incident this morning, policed by a massive show of force form the Metro Police. The march was called to protest increasing costs of fuel, food and electricity.

Johannesburg Metro Police's equestrian unit patrol the CBD

A HUGE contingent of police officers, police vehicles, squad cars and the mounted police kept a close eye on the protest taking place in downtown Johannesburg this morning.

Yet in the end the mass march called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was peaceful and without incident. Traffic came to a standstill in downtown Johannesburg as streets around Beyers Naudé Square were closed for the four-hour protest.

It was called to protest against the sharply rising costs of food, fuel and electricity.

Wayne Minnaar, the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson, who was at the protest, said the mass action went very well and was well organised.

"We have a huge police contingent, with representatives from all the units present," he confirmed. It was estimated that about 10 000 people participated.

They were mostly dressed in red, the colour of the trade unit movement. The massive group of people snaked through the city streets - and at one point filled almost the full length of Rissik Street. Yet they were well behaved, clearly enjoying the sunny winter morning.

Metro Police officers and vehicles preceded and brought up the rear of the march, while officers were also placed at strategic points along the route.

Essential services were not expected to be affected by the protest and Cosatu had given an undertaking that motorists and business owners in the area did not need to feel threatened.

Festive atmosphere
Instead, there was an almost festive atmosphere, with protesters singing and dancing through the streets and cheerleaders giving air to the odd whistle or vuvuzela. Commerce also reaped some benefits, with informal food stalls doing a fair bit of trade.

And while most of the banners dealt with the issues that had prompted the action in the first place, some of the protesters wanted to draw attention to other social issues. "There are no foreigners, only comrades," a number of posters declared; a few wore T-shirts asking for xenophobic attacks to be stopped.

A few food companies, one of whom was recently found guilty of price fixing, and Eskom, South Africa's national electricity provider, were clearly not in favour, with chants of "down with them all" heard in the street.

The protest in Johannesburg's city centre was part of rolling mass action organised nationwide by Cosatu. Protest marches were held in Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal on 9 July, followed by Mpumalanga, Free State and Northern Cape on 16 July. Today's march was the last in the series and took place simultaneously in Gauteng, Eastern Cape, North West and Limpopo.

A national strike and nationwide marches are planned for 6 August. The protest started at about 11am and finished at 3pm.

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