South Africa urges restraint amid anti-foreigner protests

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s president is calling for restraint after reports of violence and intimidation against foreigners.

Resentment against foreigners has sometimes turned deadly amid accusations that they take jobs from locals in a country where unemployment is high. 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.

Residents of the capital, Pretoria, were expected to protest Friday against foreigners. In response, President Jacob Zuma’s office issued a statement calling on South Africans not to blame all crime on non-South Africans.

“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.”