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Tutu Pleads for End to Immigrant Attacks

Archbishop issues impassioned call for South Africans to end rampage

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted May 20, 2008 5:03 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Archbishop Desmond Tutu pleaded yesterday with his South African countrymen to end a vicious surge of anti-immigrant violence that has killed at least 22 people, AP reports. Extra police were sent to squatter camps as roaming mobs continued to stab, beat and burn immigrant workers in some of the worst bloodshed the country has seen since apartheid. "The violence is extreme," said a spokesman for Doctors Without Borders.

The rioters blame foreign workers for taking jobs and scarce resources, and making their poverty worse. "Please stop. Please stop the violence now," Tutu pleaded. "These are our sisters and brothers. We can't disgrace our struggle by these acts of violence."

Shacks burn at a squatter camp outside Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday May, 2008. Mobs rampaged through poor suburbs of Johannesburg in a frenzy of anti-foreigner violence over the weekend.
Shacks burn at a squatter camp outside Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday May, 2008. Mobs rampaged through poor suburbs of Johannesburg in a frenzy of anti-foreigner violence over the weekend.   (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South Africans holding sticks and knifes shout anti-foreigner slogans as they riot in the Reiger Park informal settlement outside Johannesburg, Monday May 19, 2008.
South Africans holding sticks and knifes shout anti-foreigner slogans as they riot in the Reiger Park informal settlement outside Johannesburg, Monday May 19, 2008.   (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
South Africans jump over a barricades as they riot in the Reiger Park informal settlement outside Johannesburg, Monday May 19, 2008.
South Africans jump over a barricades as they riot in the Reiger Park informal settlement outside Johannesburg, Monday May 19, 2008.   (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
South Africans cheer as they turn over a container belonging to a foreigner as they riot in the Reiger Park informal settlement outside Johannesburg.
South Africans cheer as they turn over a container belonging to a foreigner as they riot in the Reiger Park informal settlement outside Johannesburg.   (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
South African police officers use rubber bullets to disperse crowds in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sunday, May 18, 2008.
South African police officers use rubber bullets to disperse crowds in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sunday, May 18, 2008.   (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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Anti-immigrant violence escalates
Reuters

Government urged to send troops in
Independent (UK)

Thousands flee rampaging mobs
Telegraph (UK)

 
immigration • Africa • Desmond Tutu • South Africa • riots • Johannesburg

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