Police used rubber bullets and teargas to break up a service delivery protest near Petrusburg on Thursday, December 08, 2011, Free State police said.
Captain Rulene Kuhn said 19 people were arrested for public violence and would appear in the local magistrate’s court soon.
Protesters threw petrol bombs at two houses belonging to local policemen. No serious damage was caused and no one was injured.
About 1000 residents of Bolokanang township at Petrusburg used burning tyres to block the N8 road between Kimberley and Bloemfontein at 4am on Thursday. They threw stones at passing vehicles.
The protesting residents demanded a response to a memorandum of grievance they delivered to the Letsameng municipality two weeks ago.
Their complaints centred around the provision of water and sanitation.
Kuhn said the police public order unit was keeping watch.
Last week, nine people were arrested on public violence charges during similar protests. - Sapa