South African anti-migrant protesters march 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.

The leader of the anti-migrant movement said they would hold weekly marches until their objectives are met.

“For the next six months, we are asking for our national resources to be used to take the illegal immigrants out of this country. From building to building – they must go,” Jacinta Ngobese, leader of the March and March group, said in the port city of Durban.

A joint immigration enforcement operation involving South African police and private security in Johannesburg on Monday. Photograph: Emmanuel Croset/AFP/Getty Images

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 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.

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.

Immigrants are blamed for taking jobs, driving crime and putting pressure on public services – claims that social scientists say ‌lack evidence.

Three decades since apartheid ended, South ⁠Africa remains unequal and a third of people are out of work. Despite this, it remains Africa’s largest economy and continues to draw migrants.

The immigrant population stands at about three million or about 4 per cent of the total, according to StatsSA – a relatively low share by global standards. – Reuters