H&M stores in South Africa trashed by protesters after 'racist' ad

South African police have cleared protesters who were trashing outlets of Swedish clothing giant H&M in Johannesburg over a controversial advertisement of a black child.

A photo on the company’s online website of a black boy wearing a green hoodie with the inscription “coolest monkey in the jungle” had triggered outrage on social media and among observers worldwide.

The company has pulled the photograph but the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – a radical group set up by the expelled head of the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress – organised protests at several H&M outlets in and around Johannesburg. There were also protests outside a store in Cape Town.

Video footage showed activists trashing displays, kicking over and pulling down clothes rails and pushing over mannequins.