Protesters gathered outside a government refugee reception centre in Durban on Thursday and demanded that it stop accepting asylum applications. The demonstration turned violent after allegations that a foreign national had assaulted one of the protesters, police said.
Unrest also broke out in Soweto, a sprawling township outside Johannesburg, where gunshots were reported during confrontations between residents and foreign shopkeepers. Police said at least 24 vehicles had been set ablaze and foreign-owned shops looted, with 14 vehicles torched in Durban and 10 in Soweto.
Three foreign nationals were arrested in connection with the alleged assault in Durban, according to police.
The violence followed weeks of demonstrations earlier this year by anti-immigration groups, which had demanded that undocumented foreign nationals leave South Africa by 30 June. It also came after a July Constitutional Court ruling that struck down restrictions which had prevented some people from seeking asylum because of the way they entered the country or because they had missed immigration deadlines.
The judgment requires asylum seekers to be allowed to submit applications even when they entered South Africa without the required documents. It does not automatically grant refugee status or a permanent right to remain in South Africa, government spokesman William Baloyi told Reuters.
Baloyi said people had deliberately spread false claims about the ruling, giving the impression that undocumented migrants would automatically receive legal status. The specific content and scale of those claims were unclear.
On Friday, the government said it would change the way it complies with the court ruling, without setting out what the new approach would involve. The Department of Home Affairs said the existing policy had left staff 'overwhelmed' and that 'serious threats to public safety and order had emerged'.
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