South African police on Wednesday arrested more than 100 foreign nationals and dispersed hundreds others who had defied a court order to leave the area outside the offices of the United Nations High Commissioners Refugees in Cape Town where they have camped for the past month.
The South African Police Service said in a statement that the arrested were among more than 300 refugees and asylum seekers who have staged a sit-in next to the UNHCR complex since September, demanding to be repatriated from South Africa to their countries of origin.
The statement said the police action was to ensure the enforcement of an October 18 court order for the refugees and asylum seekers to leave the area.
“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,” the statement said.
The foreign nationals argued that they do not feel safe in South Africa anymore following a wave of xenophobic violence for the past five years.
They therefore wanted the UNHCR to facilitate their repatriation back home.
This followed a spate of deadly xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals in September.
JN/APA