Planned Durban ‘clean-up’ at refugee camp erupts in violence; officer allegedly struck by stone

A planned “clean-up” at a makeshift refugee and asylum seeker camp outside the Home Affairs office on Che Guevara Road in Durban descended into violence when marchers and foreign nationals clashed yesterday afternoon, police said.

Confrontation at Che Guevara Road

About 100 people gathered at the site in Umbilo for what organisers described as a clean-up campaign. The gathering was reportedly organised by March and March, but tensions escalated after marchers allegedly picked up essential belongings belonging to foreign nationals who have been camping outside the Home Affairs office.

Stones thrown, officer allegedly struck

Police were deployed as the confrontation became physical. Police in KwaZulu-Natal said they were registering a case after a foreign national allegedly assaulted a police officer with a stone during the clashes.

“Police in KwaZulu-Natal are in the process of registering a case against a foreign national who assaulted a police officer with a stone during a confrontation between people who were marching and foreign nationals who have been camping outside the Home Affairs office on Che Guevara Road at Umbilo in Durban,”

said police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda.

Crowd control and injuries

Netshiunda said police used minimum crowd management proportional force to calm the situation and that calm was quickly restored. He added that investigations were ongoing and that anyone found to have incited violence will face the might of the law.

Paramedics attended the scene and assisted those injured, including a woman who reportedly suffered a broken leg. Netshiunda said the arrested suspect would appear in court once all processes had been completed.

What organisers and participants said

A poster circulating ahead of the gathering described the pavement outside Home Affairs as having “turned into a refugee camp” and called the area “unbelievably dirty“, urging people to join the clean-up. The poster said:

“Here is a clean-up planned for Moore Road, in the area where foreigners have been staying for a long time in front of Home Affairs. Let us all be there, leaders. Please share this as widely as you can,”

Video and eyewitness accounts captured heated exchanges between refugees and members of March and March. One of the refugees said,

“We are not scared of you. You are disrespectful,”

while a member of the anti-illegal immigration group was recorded saying,

“Why don’t you go fix things in your own country?”

Investigation underway

Police confirmed investigations into the incident are ongoing. They said they would pursue charges against anyone found to have incited violence.