South Africa protests turn violent amid rage over asylum ruling

What the report says

Anti-immigration protests in South Africa escalated into violence on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera, with unrest reported in Johannesburg’s Soweto township and in Durban on the east coast. Police said 10 vehicles were torched in Johannesburg and 14 in Durban, while foreign-run shops were forced to close, looted or targeted during the disturbances. Three people were arrested in Durban, officials said.

The protests were linked to anger over a July Constitutional Court ruling that eased some procedural barriers to seeking asylum, including for people who entered the country irregularly or missed reporting deadlines. Government officials said the decision had been misrepresented and that false information was helping fuel the unrest. An urgent briefing by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration was held as asylum offices faced heavy demand and reported overcrowding.

Reporters on the ground saw residents chasing away a shop owner they said was from Somalia, and police used rubber bullets to disperse crowds in Durban. The violence is the latest flare-up in a broader wave of anti-migrant mobilization in South Africa, where foreign nationals are often blamed for unemployment, crime and pressure on public services. Those claims have been widely disputed, as the country continues to face deep inequality and high joblessness decades after apartheid ended.