A foreign national was beaten to death by a crowd of about 50 people in central Durban on Thursday, South African police said, in an attack that followed months of anti-migrant demonstrations in the port city.

Source: Associated Press, 22 Oct 2026

Police in KwaZulu-Natal province said two men broke away from a marching group and approached the man, who was standing at the side of the road, before he was assaulted by a group of about 50 people and declared dead at the scene. The man was believed to be in his late 30s or early 40s.

Police did not reveal the victim's identity or nationality, and said the motive had not been established. Provincial police spokesperson Robert Netshiunda told the BBC they could not speculate on the motive and that more information would be shared once verified, the BBC reported.

Months of anti-migrant unrest in Durban

Durban has been a focus of protests against foreign nationals for months. Two weeks ago, soldiers were deployed to central Durban after two days of rioting and looting targeted at foreign nationals, during which vehicles were set alight and businesses were looted or torched, according to reports of that unrest.

The BBC reported that one of the groups behind the protests, March and March, had initially set a deadline of 30 June for all undocumented migrants to leave South Africa, and that several countries, including Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Ghana, took steps to repatriate their citizens amid fears of further violence.

South Africa's government has urged demonstrators to act peacefully while also accepting the need for immigration reforms, and says tens of thousands of foreign nationals have been deported or repatriated since it launched a crackdown earlier this year, the BBC reported. Police said they were following several leads to identify possible suspects in Thursday's killing.