More than 900 arrested in South Africa's anti-migrant protests
South African authorities arrested more than 900 people during a wave of anti-migrant demonstrations, with the Western Cape (215 arrests) and Eastern Cape (208) accounting for the most. Roughly 120 marches were held nationwide; police said most stayed peaceful, but a dozen required intervention, and there was looting of foreign-owned shops. One person was shot dead during looting in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township and two others were wounded in Hillbrow, including a 17-year-old. Charges ranged from public violence and robbery to immigration offenses.
The protests, organized by a coalition of civil-society groups, marked an unofficial deadline for undocumented migrants to leave. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who met organizers before the marches, acknowledged “deep concerns about illegal immigration, border management, pressure on public services” but warned that “taking the law into one’s own hands is vigilantism and has no place in our constitutional democracy.”
The episode reflects a hardening politics of migration in South Africa, where rights groups warn that foreign nationals are being scapegoated for unemployment and failing services — a dynamic now spilling into regional friction, with neighboring governments pressing Pretoria over citizens who have fled.