Chaos In South Africa: Police Clash With Protesters Targeting Nigerians And Foreigners

According to Ireporter Online, South African police fired rubber bullets and deployed teargas on Wednesday to disperse hundreds of protesters in Durban who were demonstrating against foreign nationals, including Nigerians. The protest is the latest in a series of anti-immigrant demonstrations that have occasionally escalated into violence in recent years.

Organised by multiple groups, including political parties and the controversial vigilante movement Operation Dudula, the protest saw demonstrators march through the streets carrying placards, singing, and chanting calls for stricter government action against undocumented migrants. Police initially prevented the crowd from reaching the Durban beachfront, an area demonstrators said had become a hotspot for criminal activity.

Tensions rose when a small faction broke from the main group, harassing bystanders and looting shops, prompting law enforcement to use teargas and rubber bullets to restore order. Several shop owners had preemptively closed their businesses over fears of violence.

ActionSA party leader Herman Mashaba attended the protest and criticized the government’s management of immigration, stating that the country was being “flooded by groups from all over the world” and calling the situation unacceptable. Some demonstrators said undocumented migrants were exacerbating unemployment and crime.

Among them, 81-year-old Thembi Dlamini said she joined the protest because she believed corruption and illegal migration were harming the nation, citing intensified job competition among South Africans.

South Africa, despite a high unemployment rate of approximately 32 percent, remains a major destination for migrants, with official estimates placing the number of foreigners at around three million, or 5.1 percent of the population.