South Africa seeks ban on deadly anti-migrant rallies

South Africa's acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia asked a court in Durban on Friday to stop anti-migrant demonstrations after unrest last week left one foreign national dead.

Hundreds of protesters rallied outside the court, singing and carrying placards and sticks as police stood watch, footage broadcast by South African media showed.

The March and March movement has organised demonstrations against undocumented foreigners across South Africa for months. Durban has become a focal point of the agitation.

Last week, a mob of about 50 people beat a foreign national to death, prompting President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy more than 500 soldiers to support police.

Cachalia argued that the demonstrations threaten public order and the safety of foreign nationals. He cited police intelligence about an alleged plot to set fire to the Home Affairs Refugee Reception Centre in Berea, where asylum seekers seek documentation.

Police said misinformation about a July Constitutional Court ruling on asylum access had fuelled the unrest. Counsel for police told the court that the situation in Durban had “degenerated into lawlessness” and that more than 400 deployed police officers had not been able to stop widespread violence.

The case comes days before local elections on November 4, with lawyers warning that police are already stretched ahead of the vote.