Police fire rubber bullets at anti-Zuma protests sweeping South Africa

Thousands of South Africans demonstrated on Friday in major cities against President Jacob Zuma, whose dismissal of the finance minister fuelled concerns over government corruption and a struggling economy. Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, 85 and ailing, made a rare public appearance to support the protests.

In Johannesburg, police fired rubber bullets to disperse about 100 ruling party members who were making their way towards protesters, the African News Agency reported. A few other confrontations were reported as police sought to keep groups of the president’s supporters away from anti-Zuma rallies.

“Fire Zuma” said some placards.

News24, a South African news outlet, posted photos of Tutu and his wife, Leah, standing with residents at a bus shelter outside the retirement home where they are staying in Hermanus, near Cape Town. Tutu was shown smiling and raising a walking stick, apparently to acknowledge passing protesters.

The retired Anglican archbishop, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his peaceful campaign against apartheid, has criticised the ruling African National Congress for alleged mismanagement over the years. He has been hospitalised several times since 2015 because of infections linked to past treatment for prostate cancer.