A look back at two decades of xenophobic flare-ups in South Africa

The anti-migrant protesters in South Africa blame foreigners for the nation’s unemployment and high crime. It’s a familiar story for South Africans — this is the biggest such demonstrations since 2008, when a wave of anti-migrant violence spread across the country. Nearly two decades earlier, in May 2008, a wave of xenophobic riots started in Johannesburg before spreading across the country.