Anti-migrant protests in South Africa turned violent in Soweto and Durban on Thursday, with two dozen vehicles set on fire and foreign-owned shops looted. The government blames false information about a court ruling on asylum seekers.
Anti-migrant protests in two South African cities turned violent on Thursday, October 8, with vehicles set on fire and foreign-run businesses forced to close, Al Jazeera reported.
The unrest broke out in Johannesburg’s Soweto township and in the east coast port city of Durban.
What Happened
Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane said 10 vehicles were torched in Johannesburg and 14 in Durban, where three people were arrested.
In Soweto, a Reuters reporter saw residents carrying groceries out of a shop they said belonged to a Somali owner, whom they had chased away. They fled when police arrived.
In Durban, cars were set alight in the city centre and foreign-owned shops were looted. AFP reporters said police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters.
What the Protesters Want
The violence followed demonstrations demanding that refugee centres stop processing asylum applications.
The protesters oppose a decision by the Constitutional Court in July that removed procedural barriers to seeking asylum, including for people who entered South Africa irregularly, lacked asylum transit visas or missed reporting deadlines.
The Government’s Response
Government spokesperson William Baloyi said the violence had been triggered by people deliberately spreading false information about the ruling.
He said the decision had been widely misrepresented, and that it did not automatically grant refugee status, permanent residence or other legal rights to undocumented migrants.
“We are deeply concerned by what is going on now,” Baloyi said.
Asylum Offices Overwhelmed
The government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration held an urgent briefing on Thursday on overcrowding at asylum offices since the ruling was implemented. A day earlier, the committee had said all its offices were overwhelmed by the number of applications.
A Longer Pattern
The clashes are the latest in months of protests by populist, anti-immigrant groups demanding that undocumented foreign nationals leave the country. According to Al Jazeera, the campaign has led tens of thousands to flee, some of them repatriated by their own governments.
Three decades after the end of apartheid, South Africa remains deeply unequal, and about a third of its people are out of work. Migrants are frequently blamed for taking jobs, fuelling crime and straining public services, though the report notes that such claims are not supported by evidence.
Image: Soweto, Johannesburg (file photo, 2008). Photo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.