Activists continue HIV/AIDS protests

South Africa's National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) on Tuesday continued a protest outside the Johannesburg offices of a drug multinational as part of its "Black Easter" campaign.

The campaign was launched last week to "convince pharmaceutical companies to provide free antiretroviral drugs in the country" and included demonstrations outside the offices of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Association (PMA}, NAPWA national director, Nkululeko Nxesi, told PlusNews.

"We feel that pharmaceutical companies did not honour their pledge to look at our demands and this is why we are intensifying our campaign," the lobby group said in a statement.

About 50 NAPWA members, including the national director, were arrested outside the PMA offices on Tuesday for trespassing and holding an illegal gathering.

"We are really disappointed by their actions - we thought this time they would sit down and listen to our demands. This calls on us to mobilise more people to protest," said Thanduxolo Doro, NAPWA spokesman.

The campaign will now broaden to involve other organisations, and will include a group of traditional healers and local support groups, he added.

Last year the group held a hunger strike outside PMA's offices to draw attention to the epidemic, as part of its "Black Christmas" campaign.

"We are hoping to make people aware of the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. They have the potential to save lives but they can't do this when they are bent on profiteering from antiretroviral drugs," Doro said.

If the demonstrations failed to convince the companies to provide the drugs, the group would begin a nationwide consumer boycott, NAPWA stated.