Comunity members gather whilst one holds a placard as Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers alongside firefighters secure the scene following clashes between local residents and foreign nationals in Soweto on October 8, 2026. The clashes followed protests over a Constitutional Court ruling concerning the processing of asylum applications in South Africa. South African protesters and foreign nationals clashed Thursday, police and an AFP reporter said, as tensions over migration were reignited by a court order that government must restart processing asylum applications. Violence erupted in Soweto, in Johannesburg, and the east coast port city of Durban, with several cars torched and foreign-run businesses forced to close. It followed protests called by anti-illegal migration movements that were behind waves of demonstrations earlier this year that led tens of thousands of nationals of other African countries to flee the country. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP via Getty Images)