Protesters are taking a stand against xenophobia and want government to step in to make hatred of foreigners a thing of the past.

The anti-xenophobia coalition has vowed to be disruptive if their demand for government to facilitate dialogue between foreign nationals and locals.

Chairperson of the coalition‚ made up of locals and foreign nationals‚ Themba Ncalo‚ said this did not mean they will throw stones but that they will do what truckers did in Tshwane last week and block highways.

“We will sit on the roads and they (government) will listen‚” he said.

Ncalo said government must facilitate dialogue between locals and immigrants to defuse tensions between the two groups.

He said locals and immigrants were better placed to articulate their issues and that this meeting must be held at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Ncalo was speaking ahead of the anti-xenophobia march to the Union Buildings organised by the coalition under the auspices of the Lawyers for Human Rights on Thursday.

The march was scheduled to get underway at 10:00 but the slow trickling of participants delayed the march. There are about 200 people gathered at the Burgers Park meeting point‚ with more people trickling in.

Ncalo said they were waiting for a group of Somali nationals who were getting lost as well as another group from Mamelodi.

He said theirs was not a numbers game‚ yet‚ but an effort to highlight the demand for dialogue.

He said government had 10 days to facilitate dialogue or expect a numbers game.

There have been growing tensions amongst foreign nationals and locals‚ with the latter accusing immigrants of involvement in crime whilst immigrants accused locals of xenophobia.

Tshwane metro police spokesperson Isaac Mahamba said there were enough metro police and SAPS to police the march.