Durban – More than 900 people were arrested by South African police during nationwide anti-migrant protests on Tuesday, with authorities confirming on Wednesday that the demonstrations were mostly peaceful but at times turned violent, with shops looted.
The developments carry weight for the Kingdom of Eswatini, whose citizens form part of the large migrant community living and working in South Africa.
Deputy national police commissioner Tebello Mosikili told a press conference that of 120 marches, 108 were peaceful while 12 required police intervention. The arrests were for offences ranging from immigration violations to public violence, harbouring undocumented migrants and robbery.
In a separate statement, police confirmed that one person was shot dead late on Tuesday in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township, where residents were looting informal cornershops known as spaza shops owned by foreign nationals.
Police reinforcements were deployed across five of South Africa’s nine provinces overnight, while soldiers were sent to the inner city Hillbrow neighbourhood of Johannesburg, where two people were injured in a shooting.
In Durban, police opened an inquest into the death of a foreign national who allegedly jumped from the eighth floor of a building on the eve of the protests, believing he was being targeted.
The marches were organised to mark a “deadline” set by an anti-immigrant movement for undocumented migrants to leave South Africa.
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