Somali dies as anti-foreigner violence flares

A Somali man was stabbed to death in Greenfields, Port Elizabeth, yesterday, the third murder in the area this week, Eastern Cape police said.

The man was stabbed in the head, chest and abdomen, allegedly by a group that went to his residence, Captain Stanley Jarvis said.

The man died in hospital.

No arrests had been made.

Jarvis said the motive for the attack was not yet known, but it was not linked to protests in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth.

Jarvis said a case of murder and public violence had been opened.

Yesterday, police patrolled informal settlements in northern Port Elizabeth after two days of unrest.

The unrest was sparked by the murders of two men and the arrests of community leaders from Greenfields and Vastrap. After the arrests, residents blockaded roads with rocks, poles, bushes, bricks, and burning tyres, said Jarvis.

Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the crowd. Twelve people (five minors and seven adults) were arrested.

They appeared in court and were released on a warning.

Also on Wednesday, violence flared up in Cleary Park and Timothy Valley, a spill-over from Greenfields and Vastrap, Jarvis said.

Ten people were arrested in Cleary Park for public violence after foreign-owned shops were looted. They blockaded roads, burnt tyres and threw stones at passing vehicles.

Jarvis said the crowd became "very aggressive" and police again used rubber bullets and stun grenades.

Timothy Valley residents also looted shops and barricaded roads. Police helped Somali shop owners pack up their goods and escorted them to places of safety. Jarvis said most residents had returned to their homes yesterday.

Violence started in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, on Sunday when Somali Bishar Isaack allegedly shot dead two Zimbabweans outside his shop, saying they had tried to rob him.

He was arrested.

Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said residents looted his shop and several others.

In the Vaal Triangle, south of Johannesburg, police received about 100 complaints of looting and vandalism of shops, belonging to foreigners and South Africans, following service-delivery protests in the area last week.

Scores of people were arrested for the attacks in both areas.