Anti-migrant protests turn violent in Durban and Soweto, cars torched

Mixed · 2Anti-migrant protests in South Africa turned violent on Thursday 8 October, in the coastal city of Durban and in Soweto township, Johannesburg, with cars set on fire at both and gunshots fired in Soweto, according to local media. 1 2 Mixed · 2In Durban, the unrest reportedly followed a protest by a group demanding that a refugee centre stop processing asylum applications. News24 said about 10 vehicles were overturned and set alight, and shops owned by foreign nationals were looted. 1 2 Mixed · 2In Soweto, residents clashed with foreign shop owners and gunshots were heard, broadcaster Newzroom Afrika said. 1 2

Centre · 1Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Superintendent Xolani Fihla told SABC television that at least nine vehicles were torched, that the clashes were between foreign nationals and South Africans, and that no injuries had been reported at that point. 2 Mixed · 2Later police figures put the total higher: acting national police commissioner Lt. Gen. Puleng Dimpane said 10 vehicles were torched in Soweto and 14 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, where three people were arrested; Durban police also said a guest house and a warehouse were partially burned. 3 4 Centre · 1A Reuters reporter in Durban saw five cars in flames in the city centre, where foreign-owned shops were also looted, and in Soweto saw residents carrying groceries out of a shop they said was owned by a Somali, whom they chased away; the looters fled when police arrived. 4

Right · 1Metro police spokesperson Xolani Fihla said the Soweto violence erupted near a Home Affairs office in Orlando West, that police received reports of shots fired toward protesters which triggered retaliatory vehicle burnings, and that the situation had calmed but remained tense. He acknowledged that officers monitoring the march lacked specialised public-order training and equipment. 3 Right · 1Community leader Tshepo Mposula said the Soweto demonstration began peacefully outside Home Affairs before residents moved to shut foreign-owned shops, and alleged that foreign nationals fired shots, angering protesters. Fihla did not say who fired or who owned the vehicles. 3 Right · 1KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Col. Robert Netshiunda told SABC that three foreign nationals were arrested on suspicion of attacking a protester and breaking the protester's neck, an incident he said may have sparked the Durban violence. 3

Centre · 1Deutsche Welle says the protests were reignited by a court order requiring the government to resume processing asylum applications. The court found certain provisions of the refugee policy unconstitutional because they blocked access to the asylum system on procedural grounds, such as illegal entry. 2 Centre · 1The ruling has reportedly led hundreds of people, including some who do not qualify for asylum, to go to government refugee centres. On Wednesday the government stressed that the judgement does not automatically grant refugee status or permanent residence to anyone who enters the country. 2 Mixed · 2Government spokesperson William Baloyi blamed the violence on people deliberately spreading false information about the Constitutional Court's July ruling, saying it had been widely misrepresented. The government's Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration acknowledged that all refugee offices were overwhelmed by applicants and pledged to expand processing capacity, speed up decisions and strengthen identity checks. 4 3

Mixed · 2South Africa has seen months of anti-migrant marches this year that have drawn international criticism. Some have descended into violence and looting, and foreign nationals have fled the country; Reuters says thousands did, while Deutsche Welle says tens of thousands, with some repatriated by their governments. Anti-immigrant groups had set an unofficial 30 June deadline for undocumented migrants to leave. 1 2 Mixed · 2Migrants are often blamed for taking jobs, fuelling crime and straining public services, claims that social scientists say are not supported by evidence. About a third of South Africans are out of work, yet it remains Africa's largest economy and continues to draw migrants. 1 2