South African authorities round up Zimbabwean refugees sheltering in church

Hundreds of Zimbabweans were arrested by police forces Thursday while sleeping at a church in South Africa known for sheltering refugees.

The overnight raid of Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg led to the suspected illegal immigrants being hauled away while the bishop of the church was left fuming.

"They came military-style and started raiding the street around the church and turned the church upside-down," said Bishop Paul Verryn to Agence France-Presse.

"Doors were broken, windows shattered. They basically vandalised my church, acted despicably, kicking anything that moved including pregnant women, children and disabled people."

He added that no search warrant was given to him before the intrusion and that the police "manhandled" him and treated everyone "as if we're animals", he said to CNN.

"They treated vulnerable people appallingly...it was a disgrace," Verryn said angrily.

Hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of refugees sleep on mats in corridors, in the foyer, meeting rooms and outside the church building and are fed each day by Central Methodist Church, according to Reuters.

Most of the refugees are Zimbabweans who are fleeing the economic meltdown in their homeland where the unemployment rate is around 80 per cent and the inflation rate is the highest in the world.

Some three million Zimbabweans are now believed to be living in South Africa. Every day, an estimated 4,000 Zimbabweans cross the border to look for food and work. Some South Africans have blamed Zimbabwean refugees for contributing to the country's high levels of violent crime and creating competition for jobs with locals.

Following the mass arrest, the police justified its action as a response to complaints by local residents and businesses that fear the church was sheltering criminals.

"The raid was part of a sustainable crime-combating operation that was legally authorised in order to eradicate criminal elements from problematic buildings and streets that include...the Methodist Church," police spokesman Bheki Mavundla told AFP, putting the number of arrests at around 500.

"It (the church) was legally raided by police and immigration officials in response to public complaints about robbers harbored in the church, and those running to the church after committing crimes."

However, Verryn responded that the church had strict rules and does not encourage criminality in the sanctuary. If there are criminals, "we surely would be happy to help," he assured.

Judy Baisingswaithe, who works with a homeless charity at the church, said the police did not have to use excessive force and wreck the church in the process of the arrest.

"It just saddened me because it's such as reminder of the old apartheid days," she said to CNN. "I thought about how the authorities had always come in the middle of winter to arrest the poorest of the poor."

Arrested refugees were put into police vans, where they were asked to show their passports and identification documents, news footage showed.