Sharjah24 - AFP: They turned up in a mob of several hundred at a migrant centre in South Africa's Soweto township -- unemployed, wielding weapons and angry with foreigners they accuse of taking their jobs.
"Foreigners, go home," they cried, according to witnesses.
With unemployment at 35 percent -- and rising up to 65 percent among youth -- competition for jobs has spawned resentment among some jobless South Africans.
In the past, xenophobic protests have morphed into violence. Attacks against foreigners left at least 62 people dead in 2008, while another seven were killed in similar unrest in 2015.
Armed mobs descended on foreign-owned businesses around the financial hub Johannesburg in 2019. The ensuing clashes left at least 12 people dead, of whom 10 were South African, according to the government.
In recent weeks, scores of protesters have been staging demonstrations against undocumented migrants in what they have dubbed Operation Dudula, Zulu for "drive back".
At the Methodist migrant community centre in Soweto, where about 100 migrant families live, there had been rumours of an attack.
A horde arrived earlier this month -- some wielding traditional Zulu leather whips -- at the centre in South Africa's most famous township, located south of Johannesburg.
"Foreign nationals are stealing jobs that belong to South Africans," protesters said, according to witnesses.
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