Weekly marches, wooden weapons, and now 3,000+ soldiers on the streets. South Africa’s anti-migrant tensions just escalated.

South Africa has rolled out more than 3,000 soldiers across the country to back up police during a wave of anti-migrant protests, cbinews.tv reports.

President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed the deployment in a letter to the parliamentary speaker on Friday. He said 3,405 members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) were activated from 28 June at an estimated cost of 54.6 million rand, or about $3.37 million.

“Members of the SANDF will be on standby for any eventualities,” the letter stated. Parliament published the document the same day.

The move comes after protesters marched in several cities on Tuesday. Many were draped in national flags, some carrying wooden weapons. Most demos were peaceful, but a few turned violent with shops looted. An anti-migrant movement has vowed to march every Thursday until government takes a tougher line on undocumented foreign nationals.

Police arrested more than 900 people for offences including immigration violations, public violence, robbery and harbouring undocumented migrants. Troops were sent to an inner-city area of Johannesburg where many migrants live.

The protests follow months of unrest that have seen foreigners forced from their homes and their businesses vandalised. It’s drawn international criticism. Immigrants are often blamed for job losses, crime and strain on public services, though social scientists say there’s little evidence to back those claims.

For context, South Africa’s immigrant population sits at around 3 million, roughly 4% of the total, according to StatsSA. That’s relatively low by global standards.

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