The EFF Ground Forces Trashes H&M Stores

The recent H&M picture on their advert caused a stir on social media platforms with accusing H&M of racism.

The controversial picture of a young black boy posing on an H&M advert wearing a hoodie written “The coolest monkey in the jungle “ caused of racial debate on twitter which many people received the advert as racist. The boy was posing next to a white boy who was also wearing a hoodie written “Expert in the jungle”, with so many people raising their concerns online the Swedish retail company later released a statement responding and apologizing for their advert.

Even after the retail company has apologized and pulled out the advert online, that was not enough for many people who felt that they had enough and it is time they took action against racism. On Saturday the EFF ground forces went to the malls across South Africa to protest outside H&M shops.

Protesters were seen in Sandton city, Clear water mall, mall of the North, mall of Africa, Kolonade shopping centre and Menlyn mall. The protest caused shops to close down early on the day, while most of H&M stores were trashed.

After Saturday’s protest H&M has decided to close their stores temporarily, they said “out of concern for the safety of our employees and customers we have temporarily closed all stores in the are (South Africa).

The statement does not state on when they will open for business again, or whether they could close their stores permanently in South Africa, which could cause major job loses in the country.

The DA also came out to comment on the protest saying they condemn the violence and vandalism of retail stores in Johannesburg by the EFF supporters over racist advert.

They continued to say “the EFF must be held accountable for all the damages incurred as a result of this deplorable vandalism and EFF leader Julius Malema , must pay back the money for all damages incurred and compensate the employees who had to put more hours clearing the mess”.

This protest got praises and criticism from people, people criticizing the method which they took in dealing with racism. The leader of the EFF Julius Malema said “there's no formula on how you should fight the oppressor, expect more action against all racists, individually and collectively this year”.

The police have confirmed that there was not even a single item was stolen or looted by the EFF ground forces who were protesting on the day. The EFF also confirmed that they will be meeting with the H&M management during the week.