S. Africa police rout workers

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa Police fired shotguns and usedplastic whips to break up a crowd of about 500 black workers who weredemonstrating Friday in anger over a wage dispute at a pie factoryeast of Johannesburg.

The shooting capped a day of rising political tension in SouthAfrica in which a leading anti-apartheid activist was detained,protest rallies were outlawed and the government enacted legislationforcing anti-apartheid groups to report sources of foreign funds.

At least four pie factory workers - three women and a man - werewounded by buckshot in the legs and lower bodies. Each had been shotfrom behind. A doctor said none was seriously injured.

At least another 12 workers, including a pregnant woman, weretreated for whip lashes at the hospital and discharged.

Rose Masibuko, who had been shot in the buttocks and legs, saidpolice had given the crowd five minutes to disperse. But they gaveno warning that they would open fire if the order was disobeyed, shesaid.

Masibuko said that when the workers held their ground, about 12policemen charged the crowd with whips. As she turned to run, sheheard gunfire.

She said she felt the pellets hitting her but kept running untilshe found a place to hide. She later joined other injured workerswho were being treated at the factory, from where they were taken tothe hospital.

A police spokesman said the police opened fire only when some ofthe crowd began throwing stones at them.

Injured workers, however, said they had seen no one throwingstones.

The incident was not directly related to a national campaign ofdefiance that anti-apartheid groups have launched to protest raciallaws and the exclusion of South Africa's black majority fromparliamentary elections on Sept. 6.

But it did reflect a growing air of tension in the country aspolice continued to crack down on the anti-apartheid campaign, whichthe authorities have described as an attempt to torpedo efforts byrecently appointed acting President Frederik W. de Klerk to beginnegotiations with black leaders.

In Johannesburg, security police detained "for questioning" thegeneral secretary of the partially outlawed United Democratic Front,Mohammed Valli Moosa.

Valli Moosa was one of three activists who escaped fromdetention last September and sought refuge for several weeks in theU.S. consulate. They left the consulate when the South Africangovernment gave assurances that they would not be detained again.