Durban | South Africa — Violence erupted on Che Guevara Road in Umbilo, Durban, on Thursday, 3 September 2026, after hundreds of members of the anti-immigration movement March and March marched on a makeshift camp of foreign nationals stationed outside the Department of Home Affairs Refugee Reception Office, in what the group billed as a “clean-up” operation. The confrontation, which police attempted to contain with stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets, has left multiple people injured and at least one arrest, and has reignited a bitter standoff over the fate of hundreds of displaced refugees who have now been living on the pavement for close to four months.
According to eyewitness accounts and police statements, around 100 March and March supporters gathered at King Dinuzulu Park before marching to the camp, accompanied by an escort of more than 20 police officers. The group’s stated aim was to “clean up” the site where roughly 400 documented refugees and asylum seekers — most of them from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Rwanda, with some reports also citing Somali nationals — have been sheltering since around mid-May.
Although the event’s promotional poster reportedly stated that no weapons would be permitted, some marchers arrived carrying sjamboks and sticks. Tensions boiled over when marchers began moving refugees’ belongings into the street. Stones were then thrown, and the situation escalated into open clashes between the two groups, despite the police cordon and the presence of metro police and private security.
A March and March leader was left bleeding from the mouth after allegedly being struck by a rock thrown by a Congolese national, and a police officer was also reportedly hit by a stone. On the other side, refugees and supporters also sustained injuries — GroundUp reported that four refugees were taken to hospital, while Ignesia Assagai, a March and March supporter, said she was struck in the back by a rubber bullet fired by police as they worked to separate the crowds.
Police confirmed they arrested a foreign national accused of assaulting an officer with a stone, chasing him down as he attempted to flee the scene. KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said a case was being registered against the man, and warned that anyone found to have incited violence during the clash “would face the law.” Netshiunda added that sufficient police resources had since been deployed to the area and that calm had been restored.
The refugees camped on Che Guevara Road say they have nowhere else to go. Many fled their homes, businesses and communities across KwaZulu-Natal in recent months amid xenophobic threats, evictions and intimidation, some of it linked to the build-up of anti-migrant sentiment stoked by campaigns such as March and March’s. The group has been camping outside the Home Affairs refugee office for approximately 15 weeks, according to the Sunday Times, enduring winter conditions with little access to proper clothing, food or shelter.
Crucially, the Department of Home Affairs has verified that the refugees at the camp are in South Africa legally. Despite this, they say they have faced continued daily harassment from March and March supporters and have repeatedly asked authorities for protection from xenophobic attacks, shelter and humanitarian support — appeals that activists say have largely gone unanswered.
Raphael Bahebwa, president of the Congolese Solidarity Campaign, said he was disappointed that police had allowed the violence to break out in the first place. The Siyafana Sonke Action Campaign, an activist group that was present at the camp during the clash, has also condemned March and March’s “clean-up” campaign.
Thursday’s clash is the latest flashpoint in a months-long campaign by March and March, which has been demanding that undocumented foreign nationals leave South Africa, and had previously set a 30 June 2026 deadline for departures. The group’s activities have already had significant economic and social fallout: in Bellville, Cape Town, documented traders holding valid permits have abandoned a once-bustling market after sustained harassment, while Somali- and Ethiopian-owned spaza shops and cross-border trading hubs elsewhere in the country have also come under pressure. The campaign has also been linked to the recent mass departure and deportation of thousands of Malawian nationals from communities where they had been living.
March and March had also staged demonstrations in Durban during the recent Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit, using the platform to call on regional heads of state to take undocumented nationals back to their countries of origin.
Speaking after Thursday’s clash, one March and March member defended the operation: “We are cleaning our streets. We cannot have our streets looking like this. This is our community and we want it to be clean. We want the foreigners to go back to their countries.”
Refugee representatives, however, say returning to the communities they fled is not an option, citing continued fears for their safety. March and March has since announced it intends to return to Che Guevara Road, raising concerns among activists and refugee groups that further confrontation may be on the horizon.
With March and March vowing to return to the site, and refugees insisting they have nowhere else to go, pressure is mounting on the Department of Home Affairs and provincial authorities to find a longer-term solution — whether through formal shelter, relocation, or a broader policy response to the refugees’ calls for protection. Police say the area remains calm for now, but the underlying dispute over the camp’s future is far from resolved.
