Police guard white supremacist's funeral

VENTERSDORP, South Africa, April 9 (UPI) -- Security personnel were dispatched to the funeral of a South African white supremacist to guard against violence, officials said Friday.

Police and army units were deployed to prevent possible confrontations between supporters of Eugene Terreblanche and the local black population in Ventersdorp during his funeral, the BBC reported.

Terreblanche, who died Sunday, led the Afrikaaner Resistance movement, also known as AWB. Police said two of Terreblanche's workers have been charged in his death.

Police said money, not politics, was the motive behind the killing, but Terreblanche's death led to a period of heightened racial tension, the British broadcaster said.

White groups and opposition parties blamed an African National Congress official for singing an apartheid-era song during rallies that includes a lyric about shooting a farmer, the BBC said.

The ANC rejected arguments that the song fomented tensions, but acknowledged it could polarize sides and asked its members to stop singing it.