SA shocked by wave of violence
2008-05-19 14:09
Johannesburg - Police came under fire in the Jerusalem informal settlement outside Boksburg on Monday as they tried to stop a group of about 500 people from looting shops there.
Speaking above the sound of barking police dogs and the bleeping of police radios, police spokesperson Sasa Lengene said the group descended on the shops saying they wanted foreigners to go.
She said the group did not want to take instructions from the police and the situation became volatile.
Live fire came from the large group while police retaliated with rubber bullets, she said.
Shortly after noon the stand-off ended, with no injuries immediately reported but Lengene described the area as "not really calm".
New attacks
Meanwhile, crowds of foreigners sought refugee at community centres and police stations in Johannesburg amid new attacks as the death toll from a wave of xenophobic violence rose to 15.
"Last night (Sunday) was relatively quiet compared to previous nights. We had a few incidents, one murder was reported from Alexandra. The body was found with bullet wounds," police spokesperson Govindsamy Mariemuthoo told AFP.
"We have thirteen dead, that is confirmed."
He said police would meet on Monday to collate information from the weekend attacks in townships and the downtown area.
Those arrested were held for offences such as looting which Mariemuthoo said were "pure criminal activities".
The violence has displaced thousands of foreigners, who are accused by many South Africans of depriving locals of jobs and committing crime.
Local radio reported crowds of people at community centres and police stations who were seeking protection.
On Sunday an immigrant died after being covered with his own blankets and set alight. The gruesome image of the human fireball was captured on the front-page of several South African papers on Monday.
In Reiger Park on the city's East Rand where the man was set on fire, violence again erupted on Monday morning, with residents forced to flee as their homes were set alight, an AFP reporter witnessed.
Beaten and bloody
Alongside one shack, a man lay beaten and bloody, with burns on his legs from attempts to set him on fire.
Police patrolled the township as large gangs stood around pelting them with stones and barricading roads.
Immigrants clutching belongings sat alongside the road or sought refuge at a local police station.
"All these things are the fault of the Zimbabweans. They should just go," said a South African woman who identified herself as Noxolo, whose shack was flattened in the rampage.
The bulk of the immigrants who have flooded South Africa in recent years are from Zimbabwe, with an estimated three million having fled the economic meltdown and political crisis in their homeland.
President Thabo Mbeki and leader of the ruling African National Congress Jacob Zuma have both strongly condemned the attacks.
The Human Rights Commission on Monday accused government of failing to take the swelling threat of xenophobia seriously.
HRC chief executive Tseliso Thipanyane said the sudden outburst was the result of festering anger at a lack of resources, and the large influx of immigrants, estimated at up to five million.
"The extent of the problem is definitely a shock to us, even though we have been raising warnings about this situation getting to where it has today."