Police said a foreign citizen was beaten to death in Durban on Thursday after a group of around 50 people attacked him during a protest march through the city center. Officers said the man was standing at the side of a road when the group approached and assaulted him.
The victim was in his 30s or early 40s. Police were still trying to identify suspects, while the dead man’s nationality had not been given immediately.
Durban and South Africa’s anti-immigrant unrest
The killing adds to months of anti-immigration tensions in South Africa, where marches calling for government action against migrants in the country illegally have sometimes spilled into violence. Durban, South Africa’s third biggest city with nearly four million people, has become a hotspot for those tensions as migrants and local residents face a worsening climate around immigration.
In June, thousands of migrants mainly from Malawi gathered at a park in Durban seeking to be repatriated to their home country. This month, cars were torched and shops were looted in Soweto after a court ruling made it easier for foreign citizens to claim asylum in South Africa. Esnat Joseph flees Durban as Rsa Country deadline nears
Claims of xenophobic attacks
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 rather than the protests. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced violence related to immigration and acknowledged failures in the border control system over 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. Josh Adams withdrawn before Durban clash as Wales Vs South Africa looms large and Sharks Rugby washed out as New Zealand run in eight tries in Durban sit alongside the city’s other recent headlines, but police are still focused on identifying the people involved in Thursday’s attack.
