The
Police in South African on Friday fired rubber bullets, tear gas and
stun grenades to break up clashes between local protesters and
immigrants at a rally in Pretoria against foreigners.
Several
South Africans marched toward the foreign ministry calling for the
deportation of foreigners who they claim have taken their jobs, an
incident which has led to the killing of several Nigerians.
“We don’t have hate! We don’t have hate!” one foreign man was heard shouting in a video posted by eNCA, a local broadcaster.
Police
tried to keep protesters, some of them armed with sticks and pipes,
apart from foreigners who were gathered to express alarm about recent
attacks.
South Africa’s unemployment rate is above 25 percent.
While some foreigners are blamed for “stealing jobs”, others are accused of crimes such as drug-dealing.
Resentment against foreigners has sometimes turned deadly.
In 2015,
anti-immigrant riots in and around the city of Durban killed at least
six people.
In 2008, similar violence killed at least 62 people.
The main group behind Friday’s protests, Mamelodi Concerned Residents, remained peaceful.
But
Pretoria’s police said in a statement that another group of people from
Atteridgeville, which is west of Pretoria, “blocked roads, burnt tyres
and threw stones”.
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