Police units deployed across South Africa as anti-migrant protests gather pace
The protests have been organised by anti-migration groups, including March and March, who set an unofficial June 30 deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave.
Demonstrators wrapped in flags and wielding wooden sticks gathered across South Africa on Tuesday for anti-immigrant marches.
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Pockets of violence broke out amid heavy police guard, while many shops remained shut and foreign workers stayed at home.
Thousands of foreign nationals from elsewhere in Africa had already fled the country ahead of Tuesday's "deadline" set by the demonstrators for all undocumented migrants to leave.
In parts of the main commercial city Johannesburg and the port city of Durban, protesters marched draped in South African flags and carrying wooden batons.
They were watched by police in armoured vehicles and supported by helicopters.
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"People are not working, the jobs are being taken by illegal foreigners. It's not fair," said Silindile Xaba, 31, part of a group of women chanting anti-migrant slogans in central Durban.
There were scattered signs of violence by midday local time, although marches were mostly peaceful. Police said they had arrested some looters, giving no further details.
In Thembisa, a northern suburb of Johannesburg, rioters threw stones at police and suspected migrants, while sporadic gunfire could be heard near the central business district.
National paper the Daily Maverick reported police deploying tactical vehicles and firing shots in Benoni, eastern Johannesburg, after being threatened by 500 protesters.
A police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the densely populated township of Soweto, protesters looted some shacks of foreign nationals, national broadcaster SABC reported.
At least five people have been killed in violence since protests began in April, with thousands driven from their homes or seeing their businesses and property vandalised.
In such attacks, which have recurred sporadically in South Africa since 2008, little distinction is made between those who entered legally and those who did not.
The campaign group March and March, run by a former radio presenter behind the latest protests, denies encouraging violence, and says it cannot be held responsible for spontaneous acts of anger by South Africans towards undocumented migrants.
"We are trying to channel that anger towards the government," Jacinta Ngobese told Reuters in an interview two weeks ago.
"Unfortunately, we can't be in every single community telling them ... how to behave. They live with these people."
Landlords in Durban and Johannesburg were illegally evicting foreign tenants for fear of their buildings being vandalised, witnesses said.
Deputy National Commissioner for Policing Tebello Mosikili said 103 criminal cases had been opened against anti-foreigner vigilantes since March, and the state had a duty to ensure demonstrations are peaceful.
Some politicians have echoed protesters' concerns even while condemning the violence.
"South Africans' ... deep concerns about illegal immigration ... are real and they deserve to be heard," President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement on Monday.
"But the right to protest ... does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence."