De Doorns quiet after xenophobic incident

De Doorns informal settlement was quiet on Wednesday morning after about 2 000 foreign nationals had to be evacuated for safety
reasons, Western Cape police said.

“Police are still in the area monitoring the situation,” said De Doorns station commissioner Superintendent Desmond van der Westhuizen.

About 2 000 foreign nationals were moved to shelters in town and others were taken in by farm owners on Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, local residents had prevented foreigners from climbing on to the trucks of farmers coming to town to collect seasonal workers.

The locals claimed the foreigners—mostly Zimbabweans, but including some Lesotho nationals—were accepting lower wages than
locals and robbing them of jobs

South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Wednesday morning that some foreigners started fighting among themselves.

The police had to break up a fist-fight between them, said the radio report. - Sapa