South African police said more than 900 people were arrested on Tuesday, when there were nationwide anti-migrant protests which were mostly peaceful but occasionally descended into violence and looting.
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Tebello Mosikili, a deputy national police commissioner, told a press conference that of the 120 marches that took place on Tuesday, 108 were peaceful while 12 needed law enforcement to intervene due to unrest.
Some of those arrested were undocumented migrants detained for violating immigration rules, while others were arrested for public violence, harbouring illegal immigrants and robbery.
Mosikili said police reinforcements had been deployed to five of the country’s nine provinces overnight to respond to isolated incidents of looting and criminality.
Soldiers were sent to Johannesburg’s Hillbrow neighbourhood to support the police.
Tuesday’s marches were organised to mark a “deadline” an anti-immigrant movement had set for undocumented migrants to leave South Africa.
The protests came after months of unrest that have drawn international criticism as foreigners have been driven from their homes and seen their businesses and property vandalised.