“Police fired rubber bullets to disperse a group of about 300 residents who barricaded the road leading to Lonmin Mine around 3am,” Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said.

He said the residents, most of them youths, were protesting against the failure of Lonmin Mine to employ them.

“The protesters burnt a bus and a truck belonging to the mining company, and looted a local shop.”

Police found the body of an unknown man lying on the street with several bullet wounds. The man was alleged to have participated in the protest, but it was not immediately clear how he was killed, Ngubane said.

“The situation is now under control and the officers are patrolling the area.”