Workers stayed home, shops remained shut and buses sat idle across South Africa on Tuesday as fears grew that planned anti-immigrant marches could descend into violence.
Many migrants from other African countries stayed away from work, while thousands had already fled ahead of a deadline set by demonstrators for undocumented migrants to leave the country.
Many interpreted the deadline as a direct threat. Previous outbreaks of xenophobic violence in South Africa have targeted immigrants and their property, often without distinguishing between documented and undocumented migrants.
Police and military deployed
Landlords in Johannesburg and the port city of Durban were evicting foreign tenants for fear that their properties could be vandalised, witnesses said.
"All these people were chased out by their landlords," Mabako Majole, a leader of the Congolese community, said beside a group of around 100 people sleeping on a street in central Durban.
"All these people are legal. They have documents."
Police and soldiers were deployed to maintain order during marches planned in several cities, which were expected to draw thousands of mostly poor or unemployed South Africans.
"The state has the duty and obligation to ensure that those that are demonstrating do so peacefully," Deputy National Commissioner for Policing Tebello Mosikili told a news conference late on Monday.
Violence is not a right to protest
The latest surge in anti-immigrant sentiment, coupled with criticism of police for failing to protect victims of attacks, has damaged South Africa's post-apartheid image as a defender of human rights and strained relations with other African countries.
Statements by some politicians have echoed concerns raised by protesters, even while condemning violence.
"South Africans' ... deep concerns about illegal immigration ... are real and they deserve to be heard," President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement on Monday.
"But the right to protest ... does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence," he added.
