米歇尔·古梅德 约翰内斯堡——警方称，周四在约翰内斯堡索韦托，南非人和外国人之间的冲突中，有九辆车辆被点燃，抗议者对法院裁决不满，导致大量申请人涌向庇护办公室。
MICHELLE GUMEDE JOHANNESBURG — Nine vehicles were set alight during clashes between South Africans and foreign nationals in Soweto, Johannesburg on Thursday, police said, amid protests over a court ruling that has brought crowds of applicants to asylum offices.
索韦托和德班的抗议是针对宪法法院取消寻求庇护程序障碍的决定。此举发生在数月的反移民紧张局势之后，示威者要求驱逐非法居留在南非的外国人。
Protests in Soweto and Durban opposed the Constitutional Court’s decision to remove procedural barriers to seeking asylum. They followed months of anti-immigrant tensions, with demonstrators demanding the deportation of foreigners living in South Africa illegally.
据大都会警察发言人索拉尼·菲拉称，索韦托的暴力事件发生在奥兰多西的内政部办公室附近。没有报告受伤情况，警员正在检查是否还有其他车辆被焚毁。
The Soweto violence erupted near a Home Affairs office in Orlando West, according to metro police spokesperson Xolani Fihla. No injuries were reported, and officers were checking whether additional vehicles had been burned.
菲拉说，警方接到报告称有枪击声向抗议者射击，随后引发了报复性车辆焚烧。他未说明是谁开枪，也未说明车辆所有者。“局势有些紧张，但已经比白天早些时候的暴力平息了，”他说。
Fihla said police received reports of shots fired toward protesters, which triggered retaliatory vehicle burnings. He did not identify who allegedly fired or who owned the vehicles. “The situation is a bit tense, but it has died down from the earlier violence that we did see during the day,” he said.
菲拉表示，最初监控游行的警员缺乏专门的公共秩序训练和装备。“我们没预料到会出现这种情况。”警力仍在部署，现场道路已关闭。
Officers initially monitoring the march lacked specialized public-order training and equipment, Fihla said. “We couldn’t predict that this type of situation would happen.”Police remained deployed, and roads in the area were closed.
在东海岸城市德班，国家广播公司报道有外国人拥有的商店被抢劫，防暴警察被部署到市中心。
In the eastern coastal city Durban, where looting of shops owned by foreign nationals was reported by the state broadcaster, riot police were deployed to the city center.
周四早些时候，政府的跨部门移民委员会举行紧急简报，讨论在实施七月宪法法院裁决后，庇护办公室出现的拥挤问题。
Earlier Thursday, the government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration held an urgent briefing to address overcrowding at asylum offices after implementing a July Constitutional Court ruling.
委员会称，法院推翻了阻碍部分人寻求庇护的程序性障碍，包括那些非法进入南非、没有庇护过境签证或错过报到截止日期的人。
The court struck down procedural barriers that prevented some people from seeking asylum, including those who entered South Africa irregularly, lacked asylum transit visas or missed reporting deadlines, the committee said.
内政部随后指示难民接待办公室接受这些申请，但官员们承认，他们并未准备好应对前来申请的人数。
Home Affairs later directed refugee reception offices to accept those applications, but officials acknowledged they were unprepared for the number of people who came forward.
“我们确认，所有难民接待办公室都因前来申请的人数过多而不堪重负，”该委员会在周三晚举行会议后表示。
“We confirm that all refugee offices were overwhelmed by the numbers of those coming for applications,” the committee said after meeting Wednesday night.
当局承诺将扩大处理能力、加快决策速度并加强身份核查。他们强调，这项裁决允许人们接受对其申请的主审，但并不会自动授予难民身份或永久居留权。美联社非洲新闻：
Authorities pledged to expand processing capacity, speed up decisions and strengthen identity checks. They stressed that the ruling allowed people to have their claims assessed but did not automatically grant refugee status or permanent residence. AP Africa news: