Cape Town - Crying children, and foreign nationals being dragged by police were seen on Wednesday after chaos erupted outside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offices at Waldorf Arcade.

Chanting “we want to go home” the refugees blockaded the entrances of the mall forcing the police to use water and to disperse the crowd.

The clash between police and the protesters comes after a court order was granted on October 18 at the Cape Town Magistrate's Court following an application by the building landlord to evict the group.

More than 5000 refugees and asylum seekers have been camping at the UN offices demanding the agency to take them out of the country, as they felt unsafe.

The protest by the asylum-seekers has been ongoing and gaining momentum ever since it began nearly four weeks ago.

Earlier this week safety and security mayoral member JP Smith said the matter was completely in the hands of SAPS and the Department Of Home Affairs.

“The owner of the property there has applied for a court interdict the interdict will likely be affected at some point by the South African Police,” he said.

Activist Zackie Achmat who was on the scene said that they are looking for children who have reportedly gone missing and that he saw a doctor being chased away from helping a woman in distress.



Play Video
Crying children and foreign nationals being dragged by police were seen on Wednesday after chaos erupted outside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees offices. Video: Henk Kruger/African News Agency
Play Video
Crying children, and foreign nationals being dragged by police were seen on Wednesday after chaos erupted outside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees offices in Cape Town. Video: Henk Kruger/African News Agency
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said members of the public order police have taken action against people embarking on a sit-in protest at the Waldorf building in Cape Town.

“About one hundred people have been arrested after they failed to heed the call to disperse. The police are in the area to support the sheriff in executing a court order to evict about 300 refugees and asylum seekers who have been occupying the building in a sit-in protest for quite some time,” she said.

Potelwa said the police in the Western Cape were aware of earlier efforts to engage the group facilitated by role players such as the UNHCR to resolve the impasse in an amicable manner.

“Unfortunately the attempts yielded no positive result. With a court order in place, the SAPS is obligated to support its execution by the sheriff. Law enforcement officials from the City of Cape Town and the police’s Public Order Police are henceforth on site,” Potelwa said.

“As part of the execution of the court order, taking into account the size of the group, officials from the departments of Social Development and Home Affairs are also present to offer technical support to the situation,” she added.


UNHCR spokesperson Hélène Caux had previously said: “We acknowledge the issues they (refugees) raised.

She said the UNHCR was working closely with the South African authorities to continue providing protection through the issuance of appropriate identity documentation, facilitating access to healthcare, education and employment opportunities.

Worst part they refuse to go to their homes, one woman kept shouting Dubai.

It bufles me when a smart, hard working people from giant of Africa also fight along side other entitled Africans to be a mere refugee.

They should leave the same way they came in.

This same south africa, but to be fair on them, refugees too much for that country, especially from Nigeria and many of them come from that region in the east.

superlanny:
This same south africa, but to be fair on them, refugees too much for that country, especially from Nigeria and many of them come from that region in the east.

And every year they pull this stunts towards December so that they get free ride to home and come back after the festive. But what pissed of UN this year is that some are demanding to go out of the continent. One woman was screaming she want to go to Dubai. Such entitlement can make one be anti refugees while we are not.

Worst part their respective countrie's embassies dont care, they send them away.