South Africa protests turn violent amid rage over asylum ruling

Several cars torched and foreign-run businesses forced to shut in Johannesburg’s Soweto and coastal city of Durban.

Cars are set alight during protests related to immigration issues in Soweto, Johannesburg [AP]

Anti-migrant protests in two cities in South Africa have turned ⁠violent, with the government blaming disinformation about a court ruling on asylum seekers.

Violence erupted on Thursday in Johannesburg’s Soweto township and the east coast port city of Durban, with two dozens cars set ablaze and foreign-run businesses forced to close, police said.

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The unrest followed demonstrations demanding that refugee centres stop processing asylum applications.

Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane on Thursday said 10 vehicles were torched in Johannesburg and 14 in Durban, where three people were arrested.

In Soweto, a Reuters reporter saw residents carrying groceries out of a shop they said was owned by a person from Somalia, whom they chased away. Those residents fled after police arrived.

In Durban, a Reuters reporter saw cars torched in the urban centre, where foreign-owned shops were also looted. AFP reporters in the city said police opened fire with rubber bullets to disperse protesters who reportedly set alight a business run by foreigners.

The protesters are opposed to a July Constitutional Court decision that removes procedural barriers to seeking asylum, including for people who entered South Africa irregularly, lacked asylum transit visas, or missed reporting deadlines.

On Thursday, the government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration held an urgent briefing to address overcrowding at asylum offices after implementing the ruling. A day prior, the committee said all its offices were overwhelmed by the number of incoming applications.

Government spokesperson William Baloyi said ‌the violence was triggered by people spreading deliberately false information about the constitutional court ruling.

Baloyi said the court decision had been widely misrepresented, and that it did not automatically grant refugee status, permanent residence or other legal rights to undocumented migrants.

“We are ⁠deeply concerned by what is going on now,” he added.

Months of protests by populist, anti-immigrant groups against undocumented foreign nationals, demanding they leave South Africa, have led tens of thousands to flee, some repatriated by their governments.

Three decades since apartheid ended, South Africa remains deeply unequal and about a third of people are out of work. Migrants are often blamed for taking jobs, fuelling crime and straining public services, although such claims are not supported by evidence.

约翰内斯堡的索韦托和沿海城市德班发生多起汽车被烧毁事件，多家外资企业被迫关门。

在约翰内斯堡索韦托，与移民问题相关的抗议活动中，汽车被纵火焚烧。[美联社]

南非两座城市的反移民抗议活动演变成暴力事件，政府将暴力事件归咎于有关寻求庇护者法院裁决的虚假信息。

警方称，周四，约翰内斯堡的索韦托镇和东海岸港口城市德班爆发暴力事件，二十多辆汽车被纵火焚烧，外国人经营的企业被迫关门。

南非难民担忧9月30日最后期限临近，可能再次遭到袭击（列表1/3）

南非两起大规模枪击事件致数十人死亡（列表 2/3）

南非警方在约翰内斯堡附近发现第11具女性尸体（共3例，此为第3例）

骚乱的起因是民众举行示威游行，要求难民中心停止处理庇护申请。

代理国家警察总监普伦·迪姆帕内中将周四表示，约翰内斯堡有 10 辆汽车被烧毁，德班有 14 辆汽车被烧毁，德班有 3 人被捕。

在索韦托，路透社记者看到一些居民从一家商店里搬出食品杂货，他们说这家商店的老板是一名索马里人，他们把那人赶走了。警察赶到后，这些居民也逃离了现场。

在德班，路透社记者目睹市中心多辆汽车被焚毁，一些外国人经营的商店也遭到洗劫。法新社记者在德班报道称，警方使用橡皮子弹驱散示威者，据称这些示威者纵火焚烧了一家外国人经营的商店。

抗议者反对宪法法院 7 月份的一项决定，该决定取消了寻求庇护的程序障碍，包括那些非法进入南非、缺乏庇护过境签证或错过报告期限的人的庇护申请。

周四，政府移民事务跨部门委员会召开紧急简报会，讨论新规实施后庇护办公室人满为患的问题。此前一天，该委员会表示，所有办公室都因收到的申请数量过多而不堪重负。

政府发言人威廉·巴洛伊表示，暴力事件是由有人故意散布有关宪法法院裁决的虚假信息引发的。

巴洛伊表示，法院的裁决被广泛曲解，而且该裁决并不会自动赋予无证移民难民身份、永久居留权或其他法律权利。

“我们对目前发生的事情深感担忧，”他补充道。

数月来，民粹主义反移民团体针对无证外国公民举行抗议活动，要求他们离开南非，导致数万人逃离，其中一些人被其政府遣返回国。

种族隔离制度结束三十年后，南非仍然存在严重的贫富差距，约有三分之一的人口失业。人们常常指责移民抢走工作、助长犯罪、加重公共服务负担，但这些说法缺乏证据支持。