“We Just Want Peace”: Foreigners Beg for Peace As Anti-Immigration Protests Sweep Major SA Cities

Foreign nationals living in South Africa are begging for calm as anti-immigration protests led by the March and March movement swept through Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban in April and May 2026. The emotional clip showed desperate migrants saying they have nowhere to go and simply want the demonstrations to stop.

The video landed while tensions on the ground were already boiling over. Foreign-owned salons and shops across Gauteng reported being vandalised and looted during the unrest. Some business owners said it was not the first time they had lost everything to the chaos.

“We just want peace”

Migrants from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and Somalia are among those caught in the crossfire. Many say they are law-abiding residents who came to South Africa to build a better life. The protests, however, have made daily survival feel impossible for thousands of them.

The March and March movement, which has been pushing for stricter immigration enforcement since 2025, organised the marches. Their demands include tougher visa rules and crackdowns on businesses employing undocumented workers. South Africans on social media were divided, with some expressing sympathy for the foreigners and others firmly backing the protests.

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Human Rights Watch raised the alarm this week, saying violent xenophobic attacks had targeted African and Asian nationals with little police intervention. The Nigerian government even offered to fly its citizens home.

Mzansi remains deeply split on the issue.

Watch the TikTok clip below:

More about the protests

• In another article, members of the MK Party and March and March movement arrived at Diakonia Centre, where hundreds of foreign nationals remained camped at the site.
• A group known as the March of March staged a protest in Pinetown, voicing strong views on foreign nationals following recent demonstrations in Durban.
• A pastor and member of the March and March movement has stirred controversy by using bible verses to call for undocumented foreign nationals to return to their countries.

Source: Briefly News