At least seven killed in wave of xenophobic riots

Mobs rampaged through poor suburbs of Johannesburg in a frenzy of anti-foreigner hatred over the weekend, killing at least seven people, injuring dozens and forcing hundreds to seek refuge at police stations.

Police said violence erupted after midnight on Saturday in a rundown inner city area called Cleveland that is home to many immigrants. Two of the victims were burned and three others beaten to death. More than 50 were taken to hospitals with gunshot and stab wounds.

"It's spreading like a wildfire and the police and the army can't control it," said Emmerson Zifo who, like many of the foreigners targeted, is Zimbabwean.

The trouble began last week in the sprawling township of Alexandra. Angry residents there accused foreigners - many of them Zimbabweans who fled their own country's economic collapse - of taking scarce jobs and housing. The unrest has since spread.

Johannesburg is South Africa's economic hub and home to hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Many of them are illegal, but many have also been here for more than a decade and possess South African identity documents.

There has been sporadic anti-foreigner violence for months, mainly aimed at stores run by Somalis accused of undercutting local storeowners. The violence of recent days was on a much larger scale, however.

In another inner city suburb, Hillbrow, today an Associated Press photographer saw the body of a man who had been shot dead.

Another person was shot dead and two more wounded in similar attacks on Saturday in Tembisa in another part of greater Johannesburg. Police spokesman Manyadza Ralidhivha said scores of Tembisa residents went on a rampage, destroying property that belonged to foreign nationals, according to the South African Press Association.

Edgar Gweru, from Zimbabwe, said he was robbed of cash, his passport and DVD player. He managed to escape by climbing onto his roof and hiding there until 2am, but he does not know what happened to the three people sharing his accommodation.

He said the gangs were combing the Cleveland suburb street by street, apartment by apartment.

Today, the stench of tear gas hung over Cleveland's main street, which was littered with rubbish and glass. There were two burned-out cars and many shops had been burned and looted.

A crowd of dozens of stick-wielding people, many visibly drunk, sang and danced. One held a crude sign saying "hamba kwerekwere," or "foreigners, get out". One poster said "they (foreigners) steal our jobs and everything that belongs to us".

Michael Khondwane said foreigners were to blame for South Africa's drug and crime scourge.

He said the ransacking of stores run by foreigners would send them "the message that they must go".

About 500 people sought refuge at Cleveland police station - a pattern repeated throughout the city. Red Cross volunteers scrambled to provide them with blankets and food.

Mr Zifo said the vast majority were, like him, Zimbabwean. He said he fled Zimbabwe at the start of this year because he felt he would be victimised for taking part in a teachers' strike last year.

"Even now, I would rather be in Zimbabwe," he said.