Local killed, eight arrested as foreigners' shops looted in Sharpeville

The situation is tense in Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg, on Thursday after a local businessman was shot dead while his employee sustained a gunshot wound on Wednesday.

Police said this followed protests which started on Tuesday when locals looted foreign nationals’ tuck-shops. No suspects had been arrested in connection with the murder, police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said. 

“A number of tuck-shops have been looted and the stock burnt by community members,” she said.

Five people have been arrested for public violence. Three foreign nationals who had unlicensed firearms were also arrested on Thursday by public order policing and crime prevention units, which were on the ground monitoring the situation. 

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