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South African police arrested more than 900 people during nationwide anti-migrant protests on Tuesday after localised demonstrations turned violent and triggered widespread looting.
Deputy National Police Commissioner Tebello Mosikili confirmed that out of 120 scheduled marches, 108 proceeded peacefully while 12 required direct police intervention.
Authorities cited immigration violations, public violence, robbery, and harbouring undocumented migrants as the primary reasons for the sweeping arrests.
The unrest turned fatal in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township, where an unidentified shooter killed one person late Tuesday as residents looted foreign-owned informal corner stores, known locally as spaza shops.
In response to the escalating chaos, authorities deployed police reinforcements across five of the country’s nine provinces overnight and dispatched soldiers to Johannesburg’s inner-city Hillbrow neighbourhood, where a separate shooting injured two people.
Meanwhile, Durban police opened an inquest after a foreign national fell to his death from an eighth-floor window on the eve of the protests, apparently fearing attackers would target him.
An anti-immigrant movement organised Tuesday’s marches to enforce a self-imposed “deadline” for undocumented migrants to leave South Africa.
The demonstrations follow months of ongoing tension and civil unrest that have drawn sharp international condemnation.
Over the past year, hostile crowds have repeatedly driven foreign nationals from their homes and vandalised their businesses and properties across major urban centres.
