South Africa has come to a standstill as workers stayed home, shops were shut, and buses sat idle ahead of planned anti-illegal immigrant marches. Many foreigners from African countries avoided coming to work, and thousands had already fled ahead of the deadline set by the demonstrators for all illegal immigrants to leave.

Xenophobic Protests Spark Fears of Violence

Xenophobic protests in South Africa have in the past led to violence against immigrants and their property, with little distinction made between those who entered legally or not. Landlords in the main city Johannesburg and port city of Durban were evicting foreign tenants for fear of their buildings being vandalized, witnesses said.

Police and military were deployed to the streets to try to keep order during the marches in several cities, which are expected to attract many thousands of mostly poor or unemployed South Africans. The state has the duty and obligation to ensure that those that are demonstrating do so peacefully, according to Deputy National Commissioner for Policing Tebello Mosikili.

President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that South Africans’ deep concerns about illegal immigration are real and deserve to be heard, but the right to protest does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.