Riyaz Patel
Police have began removing refugees who have been camped outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) offices in Pretoria.
This follows a court order Wednesday which gave them three days to vacate the area.
On Thursday, some refugees scaled the UNHCR fence to escape eviction.
The Waterkloof Homeowners’ Association and Brooklyn and Eastern Areas Citizens’ Association filed the urgent application seeking to get the refugees to leave the area.
A trespassing charge was opened which the police acted executed on Friday morning.
On Thursday, the Sheriff of the High Court read out the order granted by the Gauteng High Court and pinned it to the gates of the UNHCR office.
The refugees are seeking to be resettled fearing xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
They have been living on the pavements, in tents and makeshift structures, outside the UNHCR offices since the beginning of October.
The SA government called on refugees to vacate the area as they have been ordered by the High court in Pretoria.
“The protesters are prohibited from contravening the by-laws of the City of Tshwane and the laws of South Africa. Government urges the protesters to abide by the decision of the High Court.
“South Africa is a constitutional democracy and a signatory to international instruments, which form part of Public International Law, and these international instruments have been incorporated into our domestic law by the Refugees Act,” the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) said in a statement Thursday evening.
