Edit: It’s kind of worse. If I’m reading the article correctly, the shops were closed in response to the march, not in response to immigrant crime. A+ headline manipulation.

I’ll be honest, that is how I interpreted the headline in the first place. Protests devolving into riots is a thing that happens all around the world.

Organized by the anti-immigration group March and March, it also attracted similar organizations, including Operation Dudula and political parties ActionSA and Patriotic Alliance.

For anyone unacquainted with ActionSA and Patriotic alliance:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActionSA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotic_Alliance

Tldr: assholes who can barely scrape votes

Also, wow:

“We are not xenophobic, we just want the right thing to be done in South Africa, to put the South African first. We do want to live with foreigners in our country, but those foreigners must be legally in the country,” said Themba Mabunda of ActionSA, who participated in the march.

Man. They straight up plagiarized the American right wing

They are xenophobic. They do not give a flying fuck about “The South African” being put first.

Meanwhile, the actual problems in this country are being ignored:

• Energy crisis
• Housing crisis
• Gender based violence
• Worker exploitation (Immigrants, ironically, receive the worst of it)
• Corporate backed corruption
• Increased camera surveillance in the metros
• Police brutality (Private security too)
• Punitive incarceration over rehabilitation

And that list is off the top of my head.

Happy Workers Day to any other South Africans reading this. Ek gaan heel dag skommel en dagga rook.