South Africa Deploys Police As Anti-Migrant Protests Threaten Violence, Army On Contingency

South Africa braced for possible violence as anti-migrant demonstrations were held across the country after anti-immigrant groups set a Tuesday deadline for undocumented migrants to leave.

DW reported that the Ministry of Police said anti-migrant demonstrations were largely peaceful so far, while also describing arrests over looting or attempted looting and a nation on edge after weeks of sometimes violent xenophobic unrest targeting mostly African migrants.

Africa For Press

In Johannesburg’s Hillbrow, Gauteng police said three suspects were arrested after two people, including a 17-year-old, were shot and injured during a protest, and the protesters then reportedly retaliated by setting fire to the suspects' vehicle.

BBC said the protests were backed by heavy police presence and that the army was deployed “on a contingency basis” in “parts of Johannesburg” as well as Durban.

CNA said the protests capped a weeks-long campaign that sent thousands fleeing and claimed four lives, with isolated reports of looting, stone-throwing and confrontation near Johannesburg.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said “security forces are ready” to respond to potential unrest, while BBC reported that Ramaphosa met some of the protest leaders on the eve of Tuesday’s marches to defuse tensions.

DW quoted Deputy police minister Firoz Chachalia warning that those who use the protests as a chance to commit “crimes will face the full might of the law,” and it said police were on “high alert” to ensure public safety, protect businesses and critical infrastructure, and maintain law and order.

Al Jazeera

In Durban, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma of the anti-immigrant March and March told a crowd, “We want mass deportation,” and she said, “For the next six months we want the government to get rid of the people who have not left.”

BBC reported that police said the trio in Hillbrow “opened fire at protesters who were passing through the street” and that marchers retaliated by “torching the suspects' vehicle.”

As protests unfolded, BBC said South African police reported that 25,000 had been repatriated so far, while CNA said more than 25,000 people had been processed for departure in recent weeks.

In Durban, the Guardian described families camped outside an abandoned building and said a 29-year-old Malawian national was killed by a mob after a protest on 19 June, with Jackson Makungwa saying he was forced to leave his son behind.

CNA reported that at least two Mozambicans, an Ethiopian and a Malawian had been killed in the latest outburst of anti-immigrant violence, and it said several African governments including Nigeria, Malawi, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique organized voluntary repatriation flights and buses.

CNN reported that South Africa’s Border Management Authority said more than 13,000 foreign nationals—including about 9,000 Malawians, 3,000 Zimbabweans, 900 Ghanaians, and 300 Nigerians—had either been voluntarily repatriated or deported in the last fortnight.

Al Jazeera said the South African government rejected the groups’ threats as false, but it reported that thousands had been pushed to flee and that President Cyril Ramaphosa warned the right to protest “does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence.”