South Africa anti-immigrant protests erupt in capital

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Police fired stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannon Friday as the latest wave of anti-immigrant protests broke out in South Africa’s capital, while President Jacob Zuma condemned anti-foreigner violence and appealed for calm.

“We don’t have hate! We don’t have hate!” one foreign man shouted in video posted by local broadcaster eNCA. Police tried to keep protesters apart from foreigners who gathered to express alarm about recent attacks.

Resentment against foreigners has sometimes turned deadly in South Africa amid accusations that they take jobs from locals in a country where unemployment is above 25 percent. Others are blamed for drug-dealing and other crimes. In 2015, anti-immigrant riots in and around the city of Durban killed at least six people. In 2008, similar violence killed about 60 people.

Local media showed protesters in the capital, Pretoria, marching Friday morning toward the foreign ministry, with some carrying sticks or pipes.

South Africans should not blame all crime on non-South Africans, the statement from the president’s office said. It cited recent reports of violence in Pretoria and hate speech on social media.

“Many citizens of other countries living in South Africa are law abiding and contribute to the economy of the country positively,” Zuma said. “It is wrong to brandish all non-nationals as drug dealers or human traffickers.”

The president also said South Africans are not xenophobic, and he called on everyone, citizens and non-citizens, to work together to combat the country’s high crime rate.

Despite South Africa’s high unemployment, the country is one of Africa’s largest economies and remains a draw for people from far more impoverished nations across the continent. Businesses run by Somalis, Ethiopians and others are often targeted in anti-foreigner protests.

Zuma’s statement acknowledged complaints about companies that hire illegal immigrants and said the foreign affairs office “will be cracking down on all employers who continue with this practice, which is dangerous as it pits locals against non-nationals.”