South Africans in rare anti-xenophobia march

[pampango]

Source: BBC

A rare protest has taken place in South Africa in defence of Somali and Pakistani businessmen threatened with xenophobic attacks.

A crowd marched through an informal settlement in Johannesburg chanting: "We want the Somalis to stay." The march was intended to counter a protest by local businessmen demanding the closure of foreign-owned shops.

"I'll never allow foreigners to take bread from my mouth," a South African businessman told the BBC. He said that South Africans fought for democracy, and it would be a "criminal offence" to allow foreigners to dominate trade. "I'm a businessman who wants to make a profit," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

But the anti-xenophobia campaigners, who were mostly women, rallied to the defence of the Somali and Pakistani shop owners in the Ramaphosa informal settlement, which witnessed some of the worst violence during anti-foreigner riots in 2008. At least 62 people died in attacks on foreigners that swept the country three years ago.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13634605

[LeftishBrit]

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