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South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) on Wednesday said its recent attack on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was provoked by the government's policies.
TAC's reaction follows a recent government statement accusing the group of "bully boy tactics".
Over 300 TAC members on Tuesday shouted down Tshabalala-Msimang at a public health conference in Cape Town.
"The government has no place to label us as bullies. Their refusal to commit to a national treatment plan has caused us to act in this way," TAC civil disobedience spokeswoman, Nonkosi Khumalo, told the UN news service PlusNews.
Khumalo said the TAC's previous attempts to negotiate with the government had fallen on deaf ears and the group's civil disobedience campaign was a last resort.
TAC's attack was part of a national protest strategy launched against the government last Thursday to demand free HIV/AIDS drugs and a treatment plan.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions