(RTTNews) - In a spate of violence against immigrants, more than 12 people were killed in Johannesburg, police said. The immigrant violence started in

MURSHIDABAD, India, May 18 (UPI) - Violence between supporters of the Congress Party and the Communist Party of India killed 12 people Sunday as rural elections ended in Bengal.
Most of the deaths were in Murshidabad, a longtime Congress stronghold about 150 miles from Calcutta, The Calcutta Telegraph reported. At least seven people died in the second phase of voting, the Communist Party said, bringing the total death toll to 19.
iolent attacks also left more than 50 people injured with gunshot or stab wounds.

By Fred Bridgland IT BEGAN just over a week ago at a discussion in a poor township about crime. By yesterday, it had become a black-on-black

This became evident to The Citizen yesterday in Johannesburg streets, where foreigners were brutally attacked by South Africans who demanded that immigrants should return to their own countries.
Five people were reported killed and 50 were injured yesterday when xenophobic attacks spread to Cleveland, Johannesburg, police said.
ts may be used in the print edition of The Citizen, at the discretion of the letters editor.

By Mike Cohen and Carli Lourens May 18 (Bloomberg) - South African President Thabo Mbeki Condemns Xenophobic Attacks
By Mike Cohen and Carli Lourens
orters today at the San Lameer golf resort on South Africa's east coast, following a meeting with a panel of business leaders who advise him on economic issues. ``We should say it's very, very wrong and unacceptable.''

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Emmerson Ziso fled hunger and repression in neighboring Zimbabwe, but now he wants to go back. Even his violent, chaotic homeland seems a haven compared to Johannesburg, where weekend attacks on foreigners left at least 12 dead.
"Most of the Zimbabweans want to leave. It is better at home than here," said the former teacher who was chased out of his home by a mob early Sunday.
he world, recording an average of 50 murders each day.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Hundreds of foreigners living in South Africa took refuge in police stations and churches as week-old violence against them spread further across poor townships, local media reported on Sunday.
Numbers of casualties since the attacks against Zimbabweans and other immigrants began a week ago varied, with some reports on Sunday putting the death toll at around 10.
e incidents in the Alexandra area where police opened fire using rubber bullets to disperse crowds," police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said on local radio.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — A wave of violence against immigrants in Johannesburg escalated Sunday, leaving at least six dead on the inner city streets of South

One may have thought that things couldn't get worse for ordinary Zimbabweans, but now they have. On Sunday night anti-immigrant violence broke out in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, before spreading to Diepsloot as well. Although others have been affected Zimbabweans seem to be the primary targets. As the author Rian Malan observes: "Mugabe is blikseming their families back home, and mobs are trying to murder them here in Joburg."
To their credit the ANC, SACP, COSATU, and the South African government have not sought to profit from xenophobic sentiment. And, all have condemned the violence. This does not mean, however, that these organisations are not responsible (to varying