30.6.2026
Major South African cities were shut down as protesters demanded African migrants leave their country on June 30.
Police were on standby and preventing shops from being looted and ensuring that the protests do not turn violent.
The protesting groups are urging African migrants documented or undocumented to leave their country because they are taking jobs from South Africans, carrying out criminal offenses and overburdening schools, hospitals and other essential services.
Accoring to the police 25,000 African migrants have been repatriated so far.
The Ministry of Police said the protests were largely peaceful across the country, with isolated incidents of looting and attempted looting.
Johannesburg, where one of the protests is taking place, is unusually quiet. Shops in the city centre are closed, while police visibility is high on major streets.
Some protesters threw bricks, breaking the windows of some flats in Yeoville, a suburb in Johannesburg where many African migrants live.
Police said that five people were arrested in Johannesburg’s biggest township, Soweto, for allegedly looting a foreign-owned shop.
South Africa has a history of anti-immigrant violence. In 2008, 62 people were killed in riots, and more xenophobic attacks occurred in 2015 and 2016. At least 12 people were killed in 2019 when armed mobs attacked foreign-owned businesses around Johannesburg.
Meanwhile Nigeria has evacuated another batch of the 1000 of its citizens that registered to leave South Africa.
About 271 Nigerians arrived at the at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport shortly before 11 a.m. after departing Johannesburg at about 5 a.m. local time. 328 Nigerians had already been repatriated in two batches. With agency reports