Nineteen people have been arrested for protests against irregular immigration that degenerated into riots on Thursday and Friday in the city of Durban, in eastern South Africa, the Police Service (SAPS) reported this Saturday.
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Fifteen suspects were arrested on Friday night after violent protests shook the city of Durban and its surroundings. With this, the number of detainees rises to 19, including the four arrested on Thursday for attempted homicide and firing a weapon in public, the SAPS said in a statement.
The suspects, it specified, will face charges for “public disorder and intentional damage to property, without ruling out the possibility of adding other charges.”
“Most of those arrested are students. Meanwhile, intelligence officers and detectives continue to search for those responsible for burning vehicles and buildings. The suspects will appear in court soon,” the Police added.
Alleged attacks against foreigners, the burning of two houses and the looting of shops occurred this Friday in Durban on a second day of violent anti-immigration demonstrations with hundreds of protesters carrying sticks and stones, in a context marked by the xenophobic wave of recent months in the country.
XENOPHOBIA IN SOUTH AFRICA 🇿🇦 AGAIN 🤦
Violence rocks Durban, a coastal city in eastern South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, and Soweto as anti-migrant protesters torch vehicles, loot foreign-owned shops and clash with migrants. pic.twitter.com/xMufkdO9Fu— Aristotlektv (@aristotledada) October 8, 2026
Attendees at the marches justified the actions by assuring that foreign citizens were carrying out criminal activities in the burned homes.
Given the unrest, Thami Ntuli, head of the government of the KwaZulu-Natal province, where Durban is located, requested the South African Executive to deploy the Army, while increasing police deployment.
The protests occurred after both Durban and Soweto – a former black ghetto in Johannesburg (north) – were the scene this Thursday of anti-immigration protests that turned violent and left 24 vehicles burned, according to the SAPS.
Johannesburg was the subject of new protests this Friday, when the Police dispersed with rubber bullets some 300 protesters gathered at the doors of the Constitutional Court, where tires were burned and a vehicle was also set on fire.
The protesters oppose a decision adopted last July by the high court that eliminates procedural barriers to applying for asylum, even for those who entered the country irregularly, lacked transit visas for asylum or did not meet the filing deadlines.
Although the Ministry of Interior announced this Friday the withdrawal of a directive issued on September 28 to apply that ruling, the protesters maintain that this decision does not annul the Constitutional Court’s ruling.
Xenophobic tensions are a recurring problem in South Africa and have led to violent waves in recent years with dozens of deaths, especially in vulnerable neighborhoods.
Anti-immigration groups blame migrants for South Africa’s economic problems, poor public service delivery and high crime rates, and have even prevented them from accessing healthcare and education in public facilities.
Some 180,000 citizens from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been repatriated to their countries of origin in recent months as part of a wave of xenophobia against African migrants, according to official data provided by the respective governments.
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