South Africans take out rage on immigrants

A wave of horrifying violence has swept the townships around Johannesburg in the past week, The Globe and Mail's Stephanie Nolen reported in an article Tuesday Xenophobic rage explodes in South Africa.

At least 22 people are dead, hundreds injured and an estimated 4,000 have been left homeless, most of them refugees and immigrants from other African countries.

"The sudden eruption of xenophobic savagery has forced South Africans into a moment of uncomfortable self-reckoning, as the newspapers and TV screens fill with images of ethnic-based brutality of a kind not seen since the darkest days of apartheid, and considered part of the past in this country, which fancies itself to be Africa's beacon of democracy and tolerance."

The attacks began in Alexandra Township and have spread to at least nine other poor, black communities. Foreigners are the ostensible target, although hundreds of native South Africans have also fled their homes in fear, seeking shelter in the yards of police stations and churches.

[ Via: The Globe and Mail ]