South Africa has temporarily shut its High Commission building in Nigeria located within the Central Area district of Abuja and Lagos due to protests against xenophobic attacks, an official told journalists.

A Nigerian group had planned to demonstrate at the SA High Commission this morning to drive home their anger over the xenophobic attacks in that country.

They were still mobilizing at the time of this report despite the heavy rainfall across the Nigerian capital.

It is not yet clear if the closure of the diplomatic building is due to the threat but the compound has been under intense police protection since last month by Nigerian security services.