Anti-immigrant attacks spread to downtown Johannesburg

JOHANNESBURG/GENEVA: Twelve people were arrested overnight as anti-foreigner attacks in South Africa spread to parts of downtown Johannesburg, police said Friday.
Several shops and cars owned by foreigners were torched overnight in continued anti-immigrant attacks but another city that had seen the worst violence was calm.
Police spokesman Col. Jay Naicker said no violence was reported in the coastal city of Durban, where the violence began.
“Twelve suspects were arrested for trying to break into foreign-owned shops,” said police spokesman Lt. Col. Lungelo Dlamini.
In a Johannesburg suburb, foreigners afraid to return to their homes took refuge in a community center.
In neighboring Zimbabwe, police were involved in minor clashes with dozens of protesters demonstrating at the South African Embassy against the anti-immigrant attacks. Protesters handed over a petition to embassy officials demanding an end to the violence in South Africa.
It was the latest incident in a wave of immigrant-targeted violence that began earlier this month in the port city of Durban, leaving at least six people dead.
According to local reports, the protesters from a local hostel demanded foreign nationals leave South Africa, setting cars alight and clashing with police.
No injuries were reported, said Dlamini.
The scene remained tense Friday morning, with hostel-dwellers telling reporters they wanted immigrants to know they were not welcome in the country.
President Jacob Zuma has condemned the violence in Parliament.
“No amount of frustration or anger can ever justify the attacks on foreign nationals and the looting of their shops,” he said Thursday night.
Locals and African immigrants in South African often compete for scarce jobs, making them a target for violence and intimidation.
Early this year, foreign shopkeepers in and around Soweto, south of Johannesburg, were forced to vacate their premises after violence and looting broke out.
In 2008, 62 people were killed in xenophobic violence in Johannesburg townships.
The United Nations on Friday expressed concern at the latest round of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, saying the violence had displaced 5,000 people.
At least six people have been killed with the unrest spreading from the eastern port city of Durban to the country’s financial hub Johannesburg.
“In South Africa, xenophobic attacks over the last three weeks have... displaced over 5,000 foreign nationals, including refugees and asylum seekers,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said, adding it was “extremely concerned.”
“We would like to underscore that those affected in these xenophobic attacks are refugees and asylum seekers who were forced to leave their countries due to war and persecution,” it said.
“They are in South Africa because they need protection.”
In the past two weeks, shops and homes owned by Somalis, Ethiopians, Malawians and other immigrants in Durban and surrounding townships have been targeted, forcing families to flee to camps protected by armed guards.
Foreign-owned shops in the Jeppestown area of central Johannesburg have also been attacked.
Locals and African immigrants in South Africa often compete for scarce jobs, making them a target for violence and intimidation.
Anti-foreigner attacks have happened off and on for the past decade in South Africa. In 2008, 62 people were killed in xenophobic violence in Johannesburg townships.