Immigrants arrested in JHB raids say they showed police valid papers
13 August 2019
Dozens of people picketed on Monday morning outside the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court in support of immigrants arrested during police raids in the city centre last week.
Picketers held placards that read: “Equality before the law”, “There is no illegal human” and “We don’t hijack, we are hijacked”. They included people from the African Diaspora Forum, African Civil Revolutionary Movement and members of immigrant communities.
The raids conducted by SAPS and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department targeted shops suspected of selling counterfeit goods. Hundreds of boxes of clothes, shoes and bags were confiscated.
This came after police officers were forced to retreat when they clashed with shop owners and street vendors during an attempted raid in the same area on 1 August.