South African authorities have began transferring busloads of immigrants who have been sheltering in police stations from a wave of xenophobic attacks to organized tent camps, local media quoted officials as reporting on Monday.
"Three buses have transported them from Rabie Bridge Police station to a temporary shelter in Contryview, in Midrand," Thabo Masebe, a spokesman for the leading Gauteng provincial government said on Sunday.
A total of 10 camps are due to be built in the next few weeks to house up to 10,000 foreign nationals who have been forced out of their homes since an eruption of violence last month which left more than 60 people dead.
The worst of the violence was concentrated in and around Johannesburg, the country's economic capital and where foreigners had become targets of complaints by locals about high unemployment and crime levels.
While thousands of the immigrants have fled back to their homelands such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique, many others have been taking shelter in police stations and community centers, often having to sleep head to toe and with an acute lack of toilet facilities.
Source:Xinhua
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