Middle East & Africa | Hate thy neighbour

Xenophobic violence flares in South Africa

As anti-foreigner attacks spread, the authorities respond with denial

|JOHANNESBURG

WAVING FIGHTING sticks, improvised spears and shields, they advanced like an army through the streets of central Johannesburg, chanting and singing in Zulu: “Foreigners must go back to where they came from.” As they went they looted and burned shops, attacked a mosque and killed two people. The murders on September 8th came after more than a week of attacks—mostly by South Africans against migrants from other African countries—that had already led to ten deaths.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Hate thy neighbour”

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