JOHANNESBURG: Two people were killed in alleged police shootings during protests over the cost of electricity in a South African township on Monday, police officials said.

Residents angry at the high cost of basic services barricaded roads with burning tyres and set ablaze a municipal building in Thembisa township northeast of the financial hub Johannesburg.

There were “two fatal injuries” linked to “the protest action that occurred during the early hours of this morning”, local municipal police spokeswoman Kelebogile Thepa confirmed.

“It’s alleged they have been shot,” she told AFP.

A spokeswoman for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate watchdog earlier told AFP it had recorded a case of shooting “by a member of the police”.

Investigations are under way.

Protests over poor services occur regularly in South Africa, which is battling some of the highest unemployment and crime rates in the world.