Zulu community members in Durban participate in a national day of protest on Tuesday demanding the repatriation of undocumented immigrants to their home countries with marches also held in Johannesburg and other major cities. Photo by Stringer/EPA
June 30 (UPI) -- Security forces across South Africa were braced Tuesday for demonstrations coinciding with anti-immigrant and vigilante groups' self-declared deadline for undocumented migrants to leave the country, amid fears that the protests could turn violent.
Tuesday's events follow weeks of rallies that have been blamed for inciting violence against migrants in the country, both illegally and legally, by people who believe they are taking jobs from South Africans, carrying out criminal offenses and overburdening schools, hospitals and other essential services.
March and March, one of the anti-migrant organizations, had used the threat of the protests to try to force the "immediate massive deportation of all illegal foreigners currently in the country" by June 30.
However, President Cyril Ramaphosa's direct appeals for cool heads and for demonstrators not to engage in "intimidation, threats or ultimatums" appeared to have been heard with the Police Ministry reporting that, apart from some looting, the protests went off mostly without incident.
