Durban's foreign nationals plead for safety from violent attacks

Tension in Durban as foreign nationals seek safety following alleged shop and home raids.

Hundreds of foreign nationals sought refuge at Durban Central Police Station from Monday, pleading for protection amid fears of alleged attacks by anti-immigration groups.

After police dispersed the crowd on Tuesday, many were left with nowhere to go and spent the night sleeping outside the Diakonia Centre, uncertain about what lay ahead.

"SAPS' Public Order Police unit members were deployed to disperse a crowd of foreign nationals who had camped at the police station. A minimum proportionate force was used to move the crowd away from the police station on Tuesday afternoon," KwaZulu-Natal SAPS spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda told IOL.

Among the immigrants was Christopher, a 38-year-old man from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who told IOL that they had turned to the police in desperation after allegedly being threatened and chased from their businesses.