South African police arrested more than 900 people on Tuesday after nationwide anti-migrant protests organised around a June 30 deadline set by the civic group March and March demanding all undocumented foreigners leave the country, with 12 of 120 marches descending into looting and violence.
Deputy National Police Commissioner Tebello Mosikili said more than 300 of those arrested were undocumented migrants detained under the Immigration Act, while the rest faced charges of looting, public violence, incitement and harbouring undocumented immigrants. The Western Cape recorded the most arrests at 215, followed by the Eastern Cape with 208 and Gauteng with 154. South African National Defence Force soldiers were deployed to Hillbrow in Johannesburg after protesters broke into buildings suspected of housing foreign nationals.
At least four people died during the unrest, including a foreign national who fell from the eighth floor of a building in Durban reportedly fearing a vigilante attack. Thousands of Zimbabwean, Malawian and Nigerian nationals had already fled before the deadline, with repatriation convoys leaving from Durban and 271 Nigerians arriving in Lagos on Tuesday alone.
Amnesty International warned that scapegoating migrants distracted from government failures on unemployment and poverty.
