South African police arrest 100 foreigners protesting xenophobia at UN site

The police in South Africa have arrested 100 foreign nationals in an operation to disperse a group of protesters at the UN refugee agency in Cape Town.

The protesters, who are refugees and asylum seekers camping outside the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and asking to be relocated outside the country following attacks on foreigners, were arrested on Wednesday.

The South African Police Service (SAPS), in a statement, said they moved in to evict around 300 people from the area in accordance with a court order but resorted to arresting about 100 of them after efforts to resolve the impasse were futile.

“About one hundred people have been arrested after they failed to heed the call to disperse,” a SAPS spokesperson said.

A local media showed footage of police firing water cannon into the crowd of protesters, some of whom were visibly distressed or had small children strapped to their backs, while removing personal items like clothes, sleeping bags, and cooking equipment from the streets.

Earlier this year, more than 12 people were killed and over 700 arrested after groups of South Africans in Johannesburg and Pretoria launched renewed attacks on foreign-owned shops and stalls, looting and burning them while attacking some shopkeepers.

Following the heightening tension between Nigeria and South Africa on account of some Nigerians who have also been on the receiving end, President Muhammadu Buhari paid a visit to Cyril Ramaphosa while describing the violence as “unacceptable”.