The township was burning. A mob of protesters sprang up quickly that wintry June day in Atteridgeville, outside Pretoria, South Africa.
Ahmed Hashe was serving a customer in his small grocery shop when he saw them surging down the street, and he knew they were coming for him. They were carrying machetes, bars, knives, sticks and rocks, and they had blocked the roads.
The crowd had originally come together to demonstrate against the governing party’s mayoral candidate. But as political protests often do in South Africa, the gathering swiftly degenerated into frenzied looting of foreign-owned shops. Gleeful citizens carted away stolen groceries and furniture, including commercial fridges. Dozens of shops were smashed and ruined. Some were burned as a pall of black smoke rose over the neighborhood.
The 28-year-old Somali shopkeeper abandoned everything and ran, but he fell.
The protesters smashed his face with a rock, breaking his jaw, stabbed him in the back and left him for dead.
Shops like Hashe’s are frequently the target of violence in South Africa. Although unemployment among South Africans ages 15 to 34 is 37.5 percent, young Somali refugees find work quickly, usually by working in a spaza shop — a convenience store that sells basic groceries — owned by another Somali. It’s a tough and dangerous life, but after a few years, they can save the money to start up their own shops.