Taxi Strike Mayhem

Yesterday 17 May marked a very disruptive day for Durban. Taxi drivers were in complete rage over what they call "ridiculous" fines that they are made to pay to the metro police. Their complaint is that they are being ripped off by the metro police because they ask them for bribes and they make them give the money to their girlfriends. Their biggest complaint is that the money that they are made to pay does not come from the taxi owner but instead comes out of the driver's own pocket. They say that this is unfair because it is taking bread away from their children.
The protest started off peacfully,  being led by Musa Ndlovu who is the chairperson of the Durban Region Taxi Association. The march started at Botha Garden and heading up West Street( Dr Pixley ka Seme) and ending at the city hall. They were marching to hand over a memorandum to the Durban Mayor (James Nxumalo) who was nowhere to be seen. The person that is actually incharge of handling metro police matters at the municipality is currently suspended on suspision of corruption. Roy Ngcobo is the representitive of the municipality that actually had the guts to come out and recieve the memorandum from the angry taxi drivers. They were all complaining about a guy who they call "Nzama" and they actually had plack cards that had rude messages about Nzama. They said that he was incharge of the metro police and he was the reason for all their troubles. They now reffer to the metro police as "run x" because most of them drive run x's.
After they handed the memorandum over then the strike was supposed to end, instead that is when all hell broke loose. The crowd started attacking taxis that were on the road. They through bricks and injured passengers. Other drivers went into different shops and forced shop owners to close and physically attacked some of them. They went into shops and started stealing stuff. They were carrying sticks and they were throwing bricks in every direction. Police tried to disperse the crowd using tear gas and the police on motorbikes tried to discipline the crowd but their efforts were of no success because in turn, they were also physically attacked. Tyres were burnt in the market and any bus that went past was bricked. They injured an old lady and bricked her on her head. They tramped a taxi driver to death at berea. They forced people out of buses. Bins were turned upside down, they destroyed the people mover shelters, they physically attacked each other. They were cursing at anyone with a camera, it was just hell!!
I could not believe that a protest that started off so peacfully could end up so dramatic. I also could not understand why they had to attack the passengers because they have a problem with the metro police and not the passengers.
Who's crazy now? The driver or the metro police?