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Durban - Gateway Shopping Centre’s H&M store was prompted to evacuate and close its doors ahead of a planned EFF protest on Tuesday afternoon.
Although police prevented a group of EFF protesters from entering the store, H&M and surrounding stores shut their doors as a precaution.
The EFF protesters mobilised to demonstrate their outrage at a recent controversy involving H&M. The popular chain has recently come under international criticism for using a black child to advertise a hoodie bearing the slogan "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle".
Police and mall security were posted outside the H&M store and the surrounding area to curb damage to property and prevent looting, similar to the kind that occurred at Gauteng branches earlier this week.
H&M has issued an apology for offending customers.
H&M spokesperson Amelia-May Woudstra said the company was "deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and [also regretted] the actual print".
She conceded “the image published was distasteful and hurtful to the broader public".
EFF leader Julius Malema stated at a ground forces forum in Westenburg, Polokwane, on Saturday that the EFF "would make no apology" for the damage that EFF protests have caused to H&M stores.
"No one should make jokes about the dignity of black people and [be] left unattended to."
