Angry mobs loot foreign-owned shops in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG

Mobs in South Africa have looted several foreign-owned shops in the outskirts of Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, accusing foreigners of not respecting local laws, police said on Thursday.

“Looting started Wednesday night in different parts of Soweto township. Police have been deployed in the areas where the mobs went on a rampage,” police spokesman Capt. Kay Makhubele told Anadolu Agency via telephone.

Makhubele said seven suspects have been arrested and some of the stolen items have been recovered.

Two weeks ago, foreign street vendors and shop keepers clashed with the police in the Johannesburg city center pelting officers with stones as they entered their stores to search for counterfeit goods.

Video footage and photos posted on social media showed mobs entering foreign-owned stores in Soweto on Wednesday, stealing goods ranging from groceries to electronic items.

“I was busy packing goods on the shelves of my shop, when I suddenly saw a large number of people entering the shop shouting and stealing items,” Omar Hussein, an Ethiopian shop owner, told Anadolu Agency .

Hussein said he rushed out of the store through the back door to save his life. “If I had not ran out maybe I would have been dead,” he added.

Several foreign traders told Anadolu Agency that Wednesday’s lootings were similar to the anti-immigrant violence that erupted in 2008 and 2015, displacing hundreds of thousands of foreigners.

Authorities in Johannesburg have condemned the incident calling for calm and restoration of order.