South Africa police deploy on protesters' anti-migrant 'deadline'

South African police deployed to head off unrest and protests on Tuesday, the unofficial deadline set by citizen-led groups for undocumented foreign nationals to leave that has already pushed thousands to flee. Officers were out in force to prevent violence and looting, while hundreds of foreign nationals took refuge in several cities, urgently seeking help to leave. At least two Mozambicans, an Ethiopian and a Malawian have been killed in anti-immigrant violence over recent weeks and several African governments have organised planes or buses to repatriate their citizens. "I decided to go to avoid being attacked," said Malawian Peter Madsoan, 45, among several thousand gathered in the port city of Durban on Monday waiting for a bus to take him home. "I am a breadwinner back at home in Malawi," said the builder. "It is better for me to go than to die in South Africa." The Border Management Authority MA told AFP on Monday that about 25,000 people had been repatriated in recent weeks. Around 15,000 Malawians had been processed for departure, South African officials said last week, while thousands more from Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and other countries had already left. Uganda announced at the weekend an "evacuation plan" to start in the coming days for nearly 750 of its citizens. As Tuesday's unauthorised deadline arrived, thousands of people, mostly Malawians and Zimbabweans, also gathered in Cape Town and Johannesburg, waiting for assistance to go home. Some said their landlords had evicted them or their employers had fired them, fearing fines from officials or attacks by vigilante groups. Zimbabwean Evelyn Chinooneka, 29, said she and her 10-month-old baby had camped outside the Zimbabwean consulate in Cape Town for days. "It was raining, all the clothes are wet now. We need our buses to come," said Chinooneka, who had worked for four years on a farm outside Cape Town before being told to leave. In Johannesburg, men in Zulu attire and holding shields and sticks paraded through the Soweto township, chanting "Abahambe", which means "Let them go". Rolling mass action June 30 would launch "a national march to freedom, a rolling mass action" until all undocumented foreign nationals were deported, the leader of the anti-illegal migrant March and March group, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, told reporters last week. Stay informed. Subscribe to our newsletter