The government says social media platforms `clearly need to do far more` after it emerged a list purporting to contain the names and addresses of immigration lawyers was being spread online.
Initially shared on the Telegram messaging app - along with the phrase “no more immigration” - it has now begun appearing on other platforms.
Lawyers have told the BBC they have been advised by police to work from home, board up office windows and install fireproof letterboxes.
Jim McMahon, minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government, told the Today programme, on BBC Radio 4, that he was `concerned`.
One immigration lawyer on the list told the BBC she had been repeatedly threatened, and received messages on Monday from concerned colleagues, clients and members of the public telling her she was `on a hitlist`.
The Law Society of England and Wales said it was treating the list as a `very credible threat` to its members.
“This week has been a stark reminder that the anti-lawyer rhetoric has very real-world consequences for solicitors working tirelessly for their clients, access to justice and the rule of law,` said its president Nick Emmerson.
`We don`t know if they will transpire to be protests like we`ve seen in other places or whether it`s a list that`s intended just to cause alarm and distress or even to provoke,` Mr McMahon said.
`But to be clear we are absolutely prepared in terms of our policing response, in terms of our prosecutor response, and also in terms of our court response.`
The BBC has approached Telegram for comment on the spreading of the list - it is yet to respond.
However, in a previous statement about the unrest it said its moderators were `actively monitoring the situation and are removing channels and posts containing calls to violence.`
It said such `calls to violence` were explicitly forbidden in its terms of service.
Mr McMahon warned people could `expect the full force of the law` if they `cross the line`, whether it is `on the street or online`.
The Telegram group was created just hours after the killing of three children at a holiday club in Southport, on Merseyside, on 29 July.
That triggered waves of unrest in England and Northern Ireland, partly fuelled by far-right activists and online misinformation.
Henry Parker from fact-checking firm Logically said one issue the government was facing is that powers in the Online Safety Act - which could be used to tackle the spread of misinformation - aren`t yet in force.
`Unfortunately, riots haven`t waited for regulatory processes to catch up, and that`s the situation we find ourselves in at the moment,` he said.
Police response
Mr Parker added, that while he was confident the government was taking steps to tackle the problem, multiple teams had a role in fighting misinformation which could lead to a “to-and-fro where people are trying to work out ‘Well what do we do about this?’” slowing down action.`
Mr McMahon would not be drawn on whether Telegram could be told to remove channels where the list is being spread, or whether the messaging app could be blocked altogether.
He said it was important that police and prosecutors were able to do their jobs `without any political interference`.
Mark Webster, the chief constable of Cleveland Police, told Today people should be `very careful` about `naming individual premises or saying what we’re doing individually in forces`.
`You will see an awful lot of resource today and over the following days to make sure we can manage responses to all of the intelligence that comes in,` he said.
He urged people to focus on official communications online, and not to `react to things on social media from sources you can’t verify`.
Ciaran O’Connor, analyst at online extremism think thinktank, ISD, told the BBC that Telegram had taken `a hands-off approach to tackling disinformation and all shapes of extremism` on its platform.
`We’ve seen lists of refugee accommodation and immigration services addresses being shared, and an invitation to ‘protest’ on Wednesday evening,` he said.
`We’ve seen the celebration of violence that has happened so far, and the widespread dissemination of false, misleading and inflammatory claims about Muslims, migrants and the stabbing.
`This captures the essence of the largely unmoderated space on Telegram.”

Lawyers for Human Rights takes this issue to the High Court next month.
Lawyers for Human Rights, representing the Scalabrini Centre, is heading to the court next month to apply for an urgent interdict to prevent the arrests of new asylum seekers. Archive
• Thousands of people coming into South Africa from war-torn countries or countries rife with political unrest, say they live in constant fear of being arrested.
• This is despite their numerous attempts, some since 2020, to apply for asylum at the Department of Home Affairs, but to no avail.
• According to leaders of immigrant communities in Diepsloot, they are aware of at least 15 people currently held at the Lindela Repatriation Centre due to their inability to apply for asylum documents.
• Lawyers for Human Rights, representing the Scalabrini Centre, is taking this issue to the High Court next month.
An Ethiopian man who has been living and working in Diepsloot, Gauteng for nearly four years says he fears being arrested each time he walks out of his home. This is because he has been struggling for years to get legal asylum documents.
Ahmed, 24, (name changed to protect identity) said he arrived in South Africa during the lockdown in 2020 after running away from political unrest in his hometown of Tigray in Ethiopia, in which thousands of people, particularly young men, were killed.
Refugee reception offices were still closed when he arrived, so Ahmed could not immediately apply for asylum. In 2021, he submitted an application online but did not get a response.
He said he has been arrested by police on more than one occasion for not having the proper paperwork but is always released when he shows them proof that he is awaiting feedback on the application he submitted.
In 2023, Ahmed was arrested again and detained at the Desmond Tutu Refugee Centre. He travelled there to get answers about his pending application but was arrested instead. He was later released after being booked for another interview. He returned to the centre several times since then and is yet to get an asylum permit. “I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid of being deported because back home in Ethiopia it is not safe,” he said.
Another Ethiopian national from Diepsloot, Salmar (name changed to protect identity), arrived in South Africa in May 2024. Police detained him a few days after his arrival. He was released on bail after explaining his intention to apply for asylum.
He has also been to the refugee centre several times and was turned away each time without getting any help.
Ahmed and Salmar are among more than 10,000 asylum seekers and refugees who have sought help from Lawyers for Human Rights since 2020.
According to Daniel Sherrif, leader of the Ethiopian Community in Diepsloot, five new asylum seekers have been detained by police, while five others are being held at the Lindela Repatriation Center due to their inability to apply for asylum documents.
This is in addition to five other Congolese nationals also being held at Lindela because they have not been able to get help to apply for documents.
In May, the Scalabrini Centre in Cape Town, represented by Lawyers for Human Rights, approached the courts for an interdict to prevent authorities from arresting and detaining new asylum seekers, the lawyers said in a statement. This matter will be argued at the High Court in August.
Court battle looms
Meanwhile, Lawyers for Human Rights has raised concerns with the frequency of cases in which asylum applicants being arrested while at or on their way to refugee reception centres. “New applicants for asylum have been subject to arrest, detention, and deportation without the opportunity to undergo a refugee status determination interview. This process effectively denies individuals access to the asylum system, leaving them vulnerable to deportation to their home countries, where they face persecution, violence, war, detention, or even death.”
Sharon Ekambaram, who manages Lawyers for Human Rights, said the organisation’s offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, and Musina have been inundated with more than 10,000 cases of asylum seekers and refugees facing documentation challenges since 2020.
Embakaram said most of the asylum seekers they have been assisting are yet to to have their applications finalised. This adds to the Department of Home Affairs’ already-existing refugee backlog, said Ekambaram.
“Home Affairs is doing nothing to make the process of applying for asylum and refugee documents accessible, and this must change,” she told GroundUp.
Claudia Marie Bernard Kayitane, director of the immigrant advocacy organisation Pax Afrika Network, said: “Laws that observe the right to protection for refugees continue to fail us. A lack of documentation exposes them to increased insecurity.”
Requests for comment sent to the Department of Home Affairs since 21 June have received no response.
Correction on 2024-07-18 09:31
This article previously incorrectly stated that Lawyers for Human Rights will be taking the matter to the Constitutional Court. The case will in fact be heard at the High Court in Cape Town on 27 August.

KAMPALA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Nearly 100 police officers from the Democratic Republic of Congo fled to neighbouring Uganda over the weekend as fighting between M23 rebels and the military in Congo`s east intensified, a Ugandan military spokesperson said on Monday.
The officers arrived via the Ishasha border crossing in Kanungu district in southwestern Uganda, Major Kiconco Tabaro, a regional spokesperson for the Uganda People`s Defence Forces, said.

The 98 officers arrived with 43 guns and ammunition and were subsequently disarmed.
`They were fleeing fighting by M23 and other militias and the Congo military, there`s a lot of violence there and then there`s also hunger,` Tabaro said.
Over the past four days at least 2,500 more Congolese refugees have arrived in Uganda fleeing the raging violence across the border, he said.
`The main push factor is the intensifying violence and insecurity,` Tabaro said, adding that pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children were among the refugees.

The M23 has been waging a fresh insurgency in Congo`s militia-plagued east since 2022. A United Nations report seen by Reuters last month said the Ugandan army has provided support to the Tutsi-led rebel group, a charge Uganda denies.
The U.N. has long accused Uganda`s neighbour Rwanda of backing the M23, which has repeatedly seized large parts of mineral-rich eastern Congo, allegations Rwanda denied.

Efforts by Congo`s military to push back the rebels have intensified over the past year with the use of drones and aircraft, although the rebels have still expanded territory under their control.
In June, the M23 seized the town of Kanyabayonga, whose location on high ground makes it a coveted gateway to other parts of eastern Congo`s North Kivu province.
Fighting in North Kivu has driven more than 1.7 million people from their homes, taking the total number of Congolese displaced by multiple conflicts to a record 7.2 million, according to U.N. estimates.

On Monday, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country, as students targeted her office.

Hasina had first insisted protests were the work of opposition parties, then blamed terrorists, and she and her family called on security forces to prevent her ouster.

But underlying youth unemployment saw protests about a job-reservation scheme morph into a direct demand for her removal.

This is how Bangladesh`s protests evolved.

From job reservation to anti-PM protests

The `Students Against Discrimination` group, which was at the forefront of last month`s job quota protests also led the demonstrations calling for Hasina to step down.

The protests to reform the quota system paused after the Supreme Court scrapped most quotas on 21 July. Protesters, however, returned last week demanding a public apology from Hasina for the violence, the restoration of internet connections, the reopening of college and university campuses, and release of those arrested.

READ | Bangladesh top court scraps most job quotas that triggered deadly protests

By the weekend, the demonstrations spiralled into a campaign seeking Hasina`s ouster as demonstrators demanded justice for people killed last month.

The students` group called for a nationwide non-cooperation movement starting Sunday with a single-point agenda: Hasina must resign.

The protesters blamed Hasina`s government for the violence during the protests in July. Hasina`s critics and rights groups have accused her government of using excessive force against protesters, a charge the government denies.

From blaming the opposition to blaming `terrorists`

Hasina and her government initially said students were not involved in the violence during the quota protests and blamed the Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for the clashes and arson.

But after violence erupted again on Sunday, Hasina said that `those who are carrying out violence are not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation`.

The students group has declined Hasina`s offer for talks to resolve the crisis.

A half-century-old quota system

The contentious quota system was introduced in 1972 after Bangladesh gained independence, with the stated intention of redressing past imbalances.

Around half of all government jobs were subject to o the quotas, with 10% going to women, 10% to people from disadvantaged districts, and 5% to ethnic minorities.

But a third of the quota jobs were reserved for the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters.

Youth unemployment

Demonstrations started at university campuses in June after the High Court reinstated a quota system for government jobs, overturning a 2018 decision by Hasina`s government to scrap it.

The Supreme Court suspended the high court order after the government`s appeal and then dismissed the lower court order last month, directing that 93% of jobs should be open to candidates on merit.

But the underlying cause of the unrest, experts said, was stagnant job growth in the private sector, making public sector jobs, with their accompanying regular wage hikes and privileges, very attractive.

The quotas sparked anger among students grappling with high youth unemployment, as nearly 32 million young people are out of work or education in a population of 170 million.

The flagging economy, once among the world`s fastest growing on the back of the country`s booming garments sector, has stagnated. Inflation hovers around 10% per annum and dollar reserves are shrinking.

More than 1 100 people have signed a petition calling on the government of Zimbabwe to review a decision to hike the cost of a passport by nearly 50%.

On 26 July, the Zimbabwean consulate in Johannesburg announced that the price of a passport would rise from $170 (about R3 100) to $250 (about R4 540).

“The Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage has directed that all e-Passports applications that are processed at the Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa, shall be handled as express/emergency applications in terms of Statutory Instrument 1 of 2024,” the consulate said.

“In effect, this means passport application fees for the express/emergency passport shall be USD250.00 charged at the prevailing USD/ZAR exchange rate with effect from Monday 29 July 2024.”

Read: South Africa to consult over fate of long-term Zimbabwe migrants

The Zimbabwe Community in South Africa, which aims to represent the interests of Zimbabweans, launched a petition on 30 July.

The petition said: “This fee is far beyond what many Zimbabwean nationals in South Africa can afford, considering the average earnings of our community. It’s an overwhelming burden that prevents us from securing our legal documents which are part and parcel of our fundamental human rights. We believe everyone, regardless of their economic conditions, has a right to their own nationality. We call upon the Zimbabwean government to reassess these fees and reduce them to a fair amount.”

The petition had gathered over 1 100 signatures as of the morning of Friday 2 August.

The chair of the Zimbabwe Community in South Africa, Ngqabutho Mabhena, said:

“The Zimbabwean passport is very expensive. Government wants to use the passport as a tool to raise money.”

A Zimbabwean who lives in Cape Town and whose passport expires in two weeks said he would get his application for a new passport processed at the consulate in Cape Town but courier the application to Zimbabwe so that he could pay the old rate of $170.

“I can not afford the new price because I have a family to feed and rent to pay,” he said.

“The Zimbabwean government is heartless,” said another Zimbabwean, an informal trader living in Gqeberha. “We are suffering in foreign countries because of their mismanagement of our country, and they now milk us dry like this.”

Read: Zimbabweans complain about Home Affairs incompetence

Chris Mapingure, chair of the Zimbabwe Migrants Support Network, said the government of Zimbabwe should consider low-income earners in South Africa.

“The majority of them do not have formal jobs. They’re earning less than R5 000 per month. Many people won’t afford this amount and a lot of people will remain undocumented.”

Response from Zimbabwean ambassador

Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa, David Hamadziripi, responding to a request for comment from GroundUp, explained that there are two passport prices: “The first is the ordinary passport that costs USD170 and the second is the express/emergency that is charged USD250.”

But all passport applications made in South Africa are now being handled as express/emergency.

Read: ConCourt rejects appeal of Zimbabwe deportation ruling

“We have taken note of the reactions by our nationals in respect of the cost of the e-passport/express and we’re engaging our government to be aware of these responses,” said Hamadziripi.

“The Embassy in Pretoria and the Johannesburg and Cape Town Consulates implement government policies so when we have reactions from our citizens we make our government aware of these national concerns.”
© 2024 GroundUp. This article was first published here.