Police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse Muslim demonstrators yesterday during protests against the British Prime Minister's first official visit to South Africa. Police confirmed that three people were injured, but demonstrators, with placards saying "One Bullet One Blair", failed to get near Mr Tony Blair's cavalcade on its way to an awards ceremony in Cape Town.
The incident did not dent the Blairs' schedule and an address to members of the South African parliament went ahead on time, with Minister for Water and Forestry Mr Kader Asmal offering the government's apology for the demonstrations. "We express our regrets at the events that took place outside the Castle this afternoon," Mr Asmal said, as he introduced Mr Blair at parliament.
Earlier, police removed scores of demonstrators protesting against Britain's attacks on Iraq when Mr Blair and his wife Cherie flew into the "Cape of Storms" to visit an AIDS centre. At the Nazareth hospice, they were reunited with an HIV-positive girl whom they sponsored two years ago.
Mr Blair pledged £100 million globally over the next three years to help combat AIDS. "It may seem very remote from our everyday concerns but actually it is of tremendous importance to the future of the world," he said. The AIDS epidemic killed 130,000 South Africans last year alone.
Mr Blair later commended South Africa for its peaceful transition to democracy and its defeat of minority rule. "Independence did not bring freedom for the people of South Africa. The tyranny of apartheid saw to that. But the struggle and resistance led eventually to freedom. I want to salute today the ANC," he said.
Mr Blair was speaking in the same room in parliament where former British premier Harold MacMillan made his famous "Wind of Change" speech that shocked South Africa's minority white rulers.
But Mr Blair's words were mainly meant for a domestic audience. He used the historic setting to outline his vision of a "Third Way" in world politics and a stronger Britain.