Police were joined by members of the South
African Defence Force and immigration officials
in the raids [Khadija Patel]

South African police have arrested 50
"undocumented foreigners" in a massive stop-
and-search operation in two areas in
Johannesburg, authorities have told Al Jazeera.
The South African Police Services were joined
by members of the South African Defence Force
(SANDF) and immigration officials during the
raids in Mayfair and Hillbrow.

"About 50 people were arrested for being
without valid documents in the country,"
Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, Gauteng
police spokesperson, said on Monday.

"It was a stop-and-search operation... It was a
normal, crime-prevention operation."
Earlier in the morning, local media reported the
presence of up to 100 officials, including police
officers, in the vicinity.

Rising anti-immigrant sentiment

The fate of the arrested immigrants now
depends on whether they can prove themselves
to have been in the country legally.

"Immigration officers are processing those who
are arrested, and will ascertain who exactly is
illegal or not, and from there they will be taken
to the Lindela repatriation centre in order to be
deported," Dlamini said.
Monday's raids come one week after President
Jacob Zuma deployed members of the South
African National Defence Force to quell violence
in areas of the country that have experienced
anti-immigrant unrest.


'It was a stop and search operation. It was a
normal, crime prevention operation' [Khadija
Patel]

At least eight foreigners are said to have been
killed in the past four weeks as violence spread
from the seaside city of Durban to
Johannesburg.
The SANDF refused to be drawn into
commenting about the operation.
"The police determines which areas need to be
dealt with. As you know, we are just a support
system for the police," Siphiwe Dlamini, SANDF
spokesperson, was quoted as saying by local
media.

The raids on Monday came after rumours that
foreigners in the city have been arming
themselves in preparation for further violence.
However, police spokesperson Dlamini said no
illegal weapons were found during the raids in
Hillbrow and Mayfair.
Immigrants in Mayfair reacted with panic and
confusion at the sight of police and army
shoring off streets in the suburb to conduct its
stop-and-search operation.

Unsettled

One foreign national, Ahmed Fifa, who took
refuge in Mayfair after being displaced from the
Ramaphosa informal settlement, east of
Johannesburg, 10 days ago, said the arrival of
the police and army had left the community
feeling unsettled.
"People became afraid because they have
problems from the police before," he said.
Researchers too said they were concerned by
the inclusion of the army on such raids.
"Soldiers on the streets suggests that
government is using very heavy force," said
Gareth Newham, head of the Governance, Crime
and Justice Division at the Institute of Security
Studies (ISS) in Pretoria.
"This is not a sight you want to see in a
democracy."
In Mayfair, however, some foreign nationals
said the presence of the army had actually
deterred the police from the type of abuses
usually associated with operations in these
areas.

"The way they dealt with this operation was
different," said Abdullah Hasan Ahmed, a 37-
year-old resident of Mayfair.
He says that police officers who usually raid
foreigners in Mayfair, demand to see
documentation from foreigners without
understanding the type of documents refugees
hold in South Africa.
"There are a lot of people here who don't have
identification documents because they have not
been given these documents despite living here
for years. They are not helped and then the
police come asking for documents and they
don't even know what documents to look for."

Completely Legal

The legality of Monday's raids have been
questioned by some commentators but experts
say the police acted within the law.
ISS researcher Newham said it was not
unusual for South African security forces to be
targeting foreign nationals.
"Studies have shown that at least one third of
police time is spent targeting foreign nationals,
to find whether they are here legally or not,"
Newham said.

"This security operation has shown that the
objective is not to build relations with other
African nationals but rather it was meant to
show South Africans that the force of the state,
including the military, will be used to identify
undocumented nationals."
Some immigrants, however, welcomed the raid
to disprove stereotypes of criminality among
foreign nationals living in South Africa.
Abdirizak Ali Osman, national secretary of the
Somali Community Board of South Africa, said
the raid was an opportunity to prove foreigners
abide by South African law.

"We feel the police must come and search each
and everyone because there is a lot of
misconception about crime and drugs in this
area. So the police and the army must come
here and see how people are living here, and
how they are abiding by the law," he said.
Police say the stop-and-search operations will
continue in the rest of the city in the coming
days.
"These operations are continuing and you will
see them in other areas," Dlamini said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2015/04/foreigners-targeted-massive-police-raid-africa-150427200301574.html

Cc. ishilove lalasticlala

now we mean business. tired

14:
now we mean business. tired

You're a South African?

Thats a sexy police woman

s.hit just got real

no pali equals deport, nigeria deports Nigerien and Chadians too say to to xenophobia

SOUTH AFRICA is. FU.CKED. Go back tto your more receptive countries. Aids ravaged, rape infested society filled with wickedness. The police is as wicked as the citizenry. A word is enough

South Africa's attitude is becoming unbearable. They shouldn't bite more than they can chew, if not they will soon get what they are asking for in kind.

from massive k8lling to arrest?ok MTN,DSTV and shoprite must go

Still on the matter "Afrophobic Act"

W

akilo1:
from massive k8lling to arrest?ok MTN,DSTV and shoprite must go

akilo1:
from massive k8lling to arrest?ok MTN,DSTV and shoprite must go

I repeated twice to hear you clearly.
They should go where?

Very illogical reasoning.
South Africa has an immigration problem.
They decided to tackle it within the ambit of the law and you want to revenge?

Laws are meant to be obeyed. If you disregard yours, some don't theirs.

This option is by far much more decent than the animalistic killings.

Nigeria did Ghana Must Go years, should Ghana now do Nigerians Must be Killed when they can simply check their papers to determine their migration particulars?

You have a grey matter,utilize it.

na wah ooo....medicine after death.

Bros, that is not good enough.

osas5683:
Am sure most of them will be igbos causing troubles everywhere they go..set of useless beings

osas5683:
Am sure most of them will be igbos causing troubles everywhere they go..set of useless beings

There's no need to come here and show off your lack of sense. If your mom punished your father by not terminating you, be grateful for the opportunuity and try and be using your brain in everything you do.

osas5683:
Am sure most of them will be igbos causing troubles everywhere they go..set of useless beings

I blame your Illiterate dad for having to sleep with that LovePeddler of a woman you call mother without condom

Too bad it seems the government approves of what happened after all.

one sentence for South Africans; "The end justifies the means".

#saynotoxenophobia

The govt is in full support of this.We need no soothsayer.

South Africans don't want foreigners. Leave their shit hole.

osas5683:
Am sure most of them will be igbos causing troubles everywhere they go..set of useless beings

Clap for yourself,bro.....you are the most intelligent person i have come across. kudos!

The battle line has been drawn