AFP - South African police fired rubber bullets at about 200 protestors who stoned police cars and blocked streets Tuesday as they tried to voice their complaints against shoddy public service.

Police Captain Godfrey Maditsi said the protestors marched to the Thokoza municipality in the east of Johannesburg at about 8.30 am (0630 GMT), but found it was closed as municipal workers were on strike.

They then started throwing stones at police cars and blocked streets.

"It was causing havoc because there were other people, like road taxis, that wanted to forcefully use them anyway," Maditsi said.

"The rubber bullets were shot, it was to disperse people," he said, adding that many people ran as soon as they saw the police had come in force.

He said that there were no injuries reported and no arrests made as the protestors had all run away.

By this afternoon the situation was still tense but the roads had been opened and the protest was over.

Thokoza has been a hotspot of violent rioting as a series of service delivery protests have swept South Africa in recent weeks.