PRETORIA, Nov 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South African police detained more than 180 foreign nationals for storming the UN refugee agency in Pretoria, where they had been staging a sit-in protest, police said.
Hundreds of asylum-seekers started camping in front of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Oct 8, asking to be relocated to another country after a spate of xenophobic violence in September.
Protesters broke into the UNHCR premises on Thursday after they were informed of a court order giving them three days to vacate the site.
“One hundred and eighty two men and one woman were taken into custody by the police at different police stations,” said provincial police spokeswoman Mathapelo Peters in a statement.
They were being held on trespassing charges and were expected to appear before the Pretoria Magistrate Court on Monday, she added.
The statement said police used water cannons to disperse the protesters, who retaliated with rocks and other objects.
The sit-in was cleared and hundreds of women and children were bussed to a repatriation centre on the outskirts of Johannesburg as “temporary accommodation”, said Peters. — NNN-AGENCIES
