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Foreign citizen beaten to death during march in South Africa as anti-immigrant tensions flare

A foreign citizen was beaten to death by a group of around 50 people during a protest march in South Africa’s east coast city of Durban, police said Thursday, as anti-immigrant tensions continue to flare in Africa’s most advanced economy.

CNN2026-10-22 15:41查看原文 ↗

Themba Hadebe/AP/File

Police said the group approached the man, who was standing at the side of a road during a march through the streets of Durban’s city center, and assaulted him.

Police did not immediately give the man’s nationality or details on what the march was related to. They said the victim was in his 30s or early 40s, and they were still trying to identify suspects in the attack.

South Africa has struggled with months of anti-immigration tensions. Marches calling for government action against migrants in the country illegally have sometimes spilled over into violence.

Rajesh Jantilal/AFP/Getty Images

Nigeria and South Africa tried to ease tensions after violent anti-migrant protests. But the rift is back

Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi and other countries have said some of their citizens have been killed in xenophobic attacks linked to the anti-immigration protests. South African authorities have disputed some of those claims and said some deaths were related to criminal activity and not the protests.

Tens of thousands of migrants have left South Africa in recent months in one of the biggest mass exoduses in years. Many cite the threat of violence from angry locals, though the government also said that many were deported for not having the proper documents to be in South Africa.

As Africa’s biggest economy, South Africa attracts migrants from many nations on the continent , but that has sometimes brought tensions within communities because of the country’s extremely high unemployment rate and overburdened public services.

Durban, South Africa’s third-biggest city of nearly four million people, has become a hotspot for the anti-immigrant tensions that have surged this year.

In June, thousands of migrants mainly from Malawi gathered at a park in the city seeking to be repatriated to their home country. They claimed they were fleeing threats of violence after a protest group demanded undocumented migrants leave South Africa by June 30.

Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images

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The camp of migrants seeking to leave grew so quickly that authorities had to build more temporary accommodation centers to handle the numbers.

This month, cars were torched and shops were looted in the Johannesburg township of Soweto after a court ruling made it easier for foreign citizens to claim asylum in South Africa, leading to many making applications at government buildings and sparking a reaction from locals.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced violence related to immigration but has also acknowledged failures in the border control system over the years that have allowed migrants to travel to and stay in South Africa without documentation.

South Africa’s official government figures show there are around 2.4 million foreign nationals among the country’s population of 62 million, but protesters say there are many more in South Africa without documentation who haven’t been counted.

Themba Hadebe/美联社/档案照片

南非警方周四表示，在南非东海岸城市德班的一次抗议游行中，一名外国公民被大约 50 人殴打致死。与此同时，反移民紧张局势在这个非洲最发达的经济体中持续升级。

警方称，这群人接近了当时站在德班市中心街道游行队伍旁路边的这名男子，并对他进行了袭击。

警方尚未公布该男子的国籍，也未透露游行的具体原因。他们表示，受害者年龄在30岁到40岁出头，目前仍在追查袭击嫌疑人的身份。

南非已持续数月饱受反移民紧张局势的困扰。呼吁政府对非法移民采取行动的游行示威活动有时会演变成暴力事件。

Rajesh Jantilal/AFP/Getty Images

尼日利亚和南非曾试图缓和暴力反移民抗议活动后的紧张局势，但裂痕再次出现。

尼日利亚、莫桑比克、马拉维和其他一些国家表示，其部分公民在与反移民抗议活动相关的仇外袭击中丧生。南非当局对其中一些说法提出异议，称部分死亡事件与犯罪活动有关，而非抗议活动。

近几个月来，数万名移民离开南非，这是近年来规模最大的移民潮之一。许多人表示，他们担心遭到愤怒的当地居民的暴力威胁，但政府也表示，许多人因缺乏在南非合法居留的证件而被驱逐出境。

作为非洲最大的经济体，南非吸引了来自非洲大陆许多国家的移民，但由于该国极高的失业率和不堪重负的公共服务，这有时会在社区内部造成紧张局势。

德班是南非第三大城市，拥有近四百万人口，已成为今年以来反移民紧张局势升级的热点地区。

6月，数千名主要来自马拉维的移民聚集在市内一个公园，要求遣返回国。他们声称，此前一个抗议团体要求无证移民在6月30日前离开南非，他们因此面临暴力威胁，并逃离南非。