An immigrant armed with a petrol bomb on a Durban, South Africa, street during clashes with police and in search of locals that attacked foreign shop owners. Photo / AP
An immigrant armed with a petrol bomb on a Durban, South Africa, street during clashes with police and in search of locals that attacked foreign shop owners. Photo / AP
A woman has become the latest victim of violent anti-immigrant protests sweeping South Africa after she was left covered in blood when rocks were thrown through her car window.
So far six people are believed to have been killed in the violent protests which started two weeks ago in Durban, a key port on South Africa's Indian Ocean coast, spreading to Johannesburg.
In the latest show of violence: Around 200 protesters, shouting that they wanted immigrants to leave the country, pelted passing vehicles and the police with rocks.
Carol Lloyd was forced to stop her car as she drove close to Jeppestown after she was injured when a rock smashed through her car window.
South African police responded to the wave of protests, which are motivated by the large number of immigrants and high unemployment rates, by firing rubber bullets and tear gas today to disperse the crowds.
Local residents run away as police fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse a crowd of anti-immigrant protesters in Actonville, east Johannesburg, South Africa. Photo / AP
Protests began two weeks ago and six people have been killed, and dozens of foreign nationals have emptied their shops and fled over fears of attacks.
Violence flared days after Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini said in remarks reported by local media that foreigners should leave South Africa. He has since said his comments were misinterpreted.
Addressing parliament in Cape Town on Thursday (local time), President Zuma reiterated his condemnation of the violence, calling it a "violation" of South Africa's values.
"No amount of frustration or anger can ever justify the attacks on foreign nationals and the looting of their shops," he said. "We condemn the violence in the strongest possible terms. The attacks violate all the values that South Africa embodies."
He also said the government was taking steps to secure its porous borders and making progress in setting up a Border Management Agency, announced last year and scheduled to be up and running in 2016.
The ruling African National Congress party has condemned the attacks as "shameful" and branded them "criminal acts against vulnerable people".
A child looks out from inside a deserted store in Germiston, near Johannesburg, after the immigrant owner had removed his goods and left in fear of attack from local resident. Photo / AP
In the past two weeks, shops and homes owned by Somalis, Ethiopians, Malawians and other immigrants in Durban and surrounding townships have been targeted, forcing families to flee to camps protected by armed guards.
Foreign nationals living near Johannesburg were today seen removing items from their shops and shutting up their stores because of fears they could be targeted by protesters.
They fled after a mobile phone text message was apparently sent to shop owners, warning them to shut their premises, claiming that "Zulu people are coming to town... to kill every foreigner on the road".
In Primrose, near Germiston and about 15km out of Johannesburg, dozens of shops have been left empty and owners were seen transporting their wares on trucks today.
And in Durban, where many of the attacks began, thousands of people have been seen marching through the streets calling for an end to the violence.
A peace march against xenophobia takes place in Durban, South Africa, April 16, 2015. Photo / AP
Durban's impoverished townships have been at the heart of the recent clashes between locals and immigrants, following a similar spate of attacks on foreign-owned shops in Soweto, near Johannesburg, earlier this year.
More than 1,000 foreigners in Durban have fled their homes and are now living in makeshift camps under police guard.
Safe camps have been established in the coastal city of Durban for fleeing immigrants whose shops were looted and burned down.
The fear felt by many was palpable as dozens of foreigners sought refuge at a police station outside Johannesburg and stayed there overnight, according to police spokesman, Col. Lungelo Dlamini.
Patrick Gaspard, the US ambassador to South Africa who was born in Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to Haitian parents, spoke in defence of the immigrants.
"As an immigrant to my own country, my heart goes out to those who have been attacked for being different," Mr Gaspard said in a statement.
In a statement, Tina Ghelli, spokesman for the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the Minister of International Relations Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, will meet with diplomats from several African countries on Friday to discuss the government's efforts to protect immigrants.
The governments of Malawi and Zimbabwe have begun efforts to repatriate citizens affected by the attacks.
South Africa has a population of about 50 million, but an estimated five million immigrants and its high jobless rate, widespread poverty and glaring income disparities make it a ripe candidate for outbreaks of anti-immigrant violence.
Unemployment is officially around 25 percent but economists say in reality it is much higher.
Johannesburg was the epicentre of the 2008 xenophobic attacks that killed more than 60 people and saw violence spread through the area.
