Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema claims police allegedly forced him out of his car and pointed rifles at him in Sandton on Sunday night.

At about 9pm on Sunday night, Malema tweeted: “Just survived police harassment at Grayston off-ramp,12 police men pointed me with rifles and forced me out of the car…”

The EFF also released a statement about the alleged incident which was said to have occurred while Malema was on his way back from a meeting in Soweto.

“…Malema, was tonight stopped by a white unmarked van just by the Grayston drive offramp in Sandton & immediately surrounded by plus/minus 10 police cars. The police then all came out pointing guns at his car and forced him out. The entire intersection at the Grayston Drive offramp was blocked, isolating him from the rest of the traffic,” the statement said.

“The CIC Julius Malema got out and the police all did nothing, claiming it was a mistake. He forced his way around the police cars, driving over the pavements and drove off.”

The EFF said the incident was “a clear act of intimidation and demonstration that the enemy is following our CIC Julius Malema around”.

“Now that their criminal charges and SARS cases were not successful to subdue the rising Lion of the North. Now that they failed to stop him from building what has become the largest left revolutionary movement in the country in form of the EFF. Now that even the highest courts of the country have given rulings of no confidence in the government of the day due to the relentless, brave and uncompromising fight that the CIC Julius Malema has sustained, the enemy is going for his security, physically seeking to subdue him into fear,” the EFF said.

It added: “If the enemy thinks harassing our CIC Julius Malema will subdue him or the EFF they are lying…

The bravery of our CIC Julius Malema is stronger than 10 million armies.”

Police say they will only comment if and when Malema opens a case.

The EFF says Malema is still deciding whether to open a case or not.