South African security forces moved into townships in the Cape Town area on Monday after attacks and threats against foreign migrant workers.
Scores of workers from neighboring African countries took refuge at police stations in the Western Cape on Sunday night, fearing for their lives after shops run by migrants had been looted, national news agency SAPA reported.
Shadow
The incidents cast a shadow over the glow of South Africa’s successful hosting of the World Cup, which ended on Sunday night with Spain beating the Netherlands in the final in Johannesburg.
Police said they had arrested seven people after anti-foreigner incidents in the Western Cape, but no one had been hurt.
“There were two shacks that were burned in separate areas and there’s been sporadic incidents of looting and threats have been made on foreign nationals,” police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said.
Police and soldiers had been deployed in the area to protect the migrants, he said.
South Africa has attracted millions of workers from across the continent who compete with locals for scarce jobs and resources. Two years ago more than 60 people were killed during anti-foreigner attacks.
South African President Jacob Zuma said he was aware that foreign workers feared attack, but he said there was little evidence to suggest South Africans would turn on them.
Rumors
The worries were the result of rumors, he said.
“Let us make a distinction between a rumor and a concrete report with a clear source of information,” Zuma said at a news conference marking the end of the World Cup.
In Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, about 300 residents blocked traffic with burning tires to protest about living conditions.
“Police have been deployed to the area and are trying to clear the crowds,” Johannesburg police spokesman Wayne Minaar said.
Such protests, which were common before the World Cup, had died down during the 32-day soccer tournament.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in