South Africa’s Anti-Migrant Protesters March Nationwide, After Thousands Flee Violence

Anti-immigrant protesters draped in flags and wielding wooden weapons marched ​across cities in South Africa on Tuesday to mark a deadline they had set for undocumented migrants to leave, with some marches hit by violence ‌and looting.

Thousands of African foreign nationals had already fled South Africa ahead of Tuesday’s “deadline”, and shops closed and foreign workers stayed home in anticipation of further trouble after months of unrest brought international condemnation.

At least four people have been killed and thousands of foreigners have been driven from their homes and seen their businesses and property vandalised.

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Migrants have interpreted the deadline as a physical threat, and there were scattered signs of violence, although many marches ​were peaceful. Police said they had arrested some looters, giving no further details.

In Thembisa, a northern suburb of the main commercial hub of Johannesburg, rioters threw stones at police and suspected migrants, while sporadic gunfire could be heard near the central business district.

National paper the Daily Maverick reported police deploying tactical vehicles and firing shots in Benoni, eastern Johannesburg, after being threatened by 500 protesters.

A police spokesperson did not immediately respond ​to a request for comment. In the township of Soweto, protesters looted shacks of foreign nationals, national broadcaster SABC reported, adding that police had fired rubber bullets to disperse marches in ​Pietermaritzburg, near Durban.

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Landlords in Durban and Johannesburg had been illegally evicting foreign tenants ahead of the march for fear of their buildings being vandalised, witnesses said, and about 100 Congolese were sleeping on Durban’s streets, according to a Reuters reporter, and their leader said they had been chased out.

The marches drew many thousands of mostly poor or unemployed South Africans who blame foreign nationals for their hardships.

Thousands of police were deployed and ​the military were on standby, a military spokesperson ​said.

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The immigrant population stands at about 3 million or about 4% of the total, according to StatsSA — a relatively low share by global standards.

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