Anti-migrant attacks in South Africa kill 5, displace families
Why it matters: migrants with legal status say they were driven from homes and shops as violence deepened a diplomatic rift.
Violence tied to anti-migrant protests in South Africa has killed at least five people, forced families to flee and left about 200 migrants sleeping outside a Department of Home Affairs office in Durban. Reuters reported that many of those targeted are African foreign nationals with legal papers, including some who have lived in South Africa since childhood. Princess Adjei, a 33-year-old salon owner from Ghana, said protesters looted her Durban business on May 18, leaving her unable to pay rent. Migrants interviewed in Durban said police moved them from one temporary refuge to another and that they were turned away again. March and March, the group behind the protests, denied responsibility for the violence.