Police record 874 protests linked to irregular migration in six months
Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia told Parliament that police recorded 874 marches linked to irregular migration between January and June 2026, with KwaZulu-Natal recording the highest number.
Between January and June 2026, police recorded 874 protests in South Africa linked to irregular migration, according to Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia. Questions from EFF MP Chumai Matiwane prompted the response, which detailed locations and numbers of protests by region. KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of protests, with 271, followed by Gauteng at 173, Eastern Cape at 122, Western Cape at 88, Limpopo at 71, Mpumalanga at 59, Free State at 53, North West at 24, and Northern Cape at just 13.
The Public Order Policing (POP) unit assisted 433 of these protests, providing crowd management and support functions in line with the law. Of these assisted protests, 368 were peaceful while 49 saw crowd unrest. Eastern Cape experienced the most unrest, with 17 incidents, followed closely by KwaZulu-Natal at 10, Western Cape at 7, and Eastern Cape again with 6. In KwaZulu-Natal alone, 113 protests remained peaceful.
The arrests associated with these protests total 21, with over 400 arrests made in connection to protests against illegal immigrants until two months ago, as of July 2026. The offenses included aiding illegal foreigners, assault, attempted arson, attempted murder, robbery, business robberies, cybercrime-related activities, employment of illegal foreigners, and extortion.
The police assert their responsibility in preventing crime and maintaining public order, emphasizing that any threat to immigrants or communities will be met with action to uphold the rule of law.
Written by urgent.news from IOL's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
