RIOT police have fired rubber bullets at protesters as they vandalised a string of H&M’s stores in South Africa and ordered the Swedish brand to stop trading.

Violence spilled over in at least four malls as the latest race row to engulf the Swedish brand escalated.

4 H&M stores in Johannesburg were vandalised by angry protesters, who claim the brand is racist Credit: Floyd Shivambu

Mannequins and rails of clothes were sent flying and trampled on by activists as they stormed shops across Johannesburg and demanded the retailer shuts its doors or face "indefinite" action.

Innocent shoppers and bystanders were forced to flee as chanting gangs wearing uniforms of the country’s radical opposition party swept through H&M stores across the city - including Africa’s flagship store in the upmarket suburb of Sandton.

Floyd Shivambu, spokesman for the Economic Freedom Fighters party, praised the action, saying the retailer was "now facing the consequences for its racism".

Earlier this week, H&M was forced to apologise and order a mass withdrawal of stock after publishing an advert depicting a black boy wearing a green hoodie emblazoned with "coolest monkey in the jungle".

4 Campaigners claimed the vandalism was committed in response to a racist hoodie Credit: AFP or licensors

4 Rails of clothes were chucked to the ground and mannequins trampled on Credit: AFP or licensors

4 This is the jumper which sparked international outrage Credit: AP:Associated Press

Terry Mango, originally from Kenya, is the mother of the five year-old featured in the ad.

She defended H&M and told its critics to "get over it", later saying she had suffered online abuse for her comments.

After police successfully dispersed the protesters, the EFF's firebrand leader Julius Malema said stores were targeted “because they called our children baboons”.

The chain decided to close its South African stores in the wake of the invasions for “the safety of our staff and customers”.

Mr Malema told a rally: “We are teaching them a lesson, we are not going to allow anyone to use the colour of our skin to humiliate us, or to exclude us.

“We are black and we are proud. We are black and we are beautiful. We are black and we are not ashamed of being black.”

Demonstration erupts outside of H&M in South Africa over fury at ‘coolest monkey’ race row hoodie

[IMPORTANT NOTICE]: All the stores of that racist retailer @hmsouthafrica are CLOSED. Racism must fall and we will never tip toe around racists. pic.twitter.com/eqmw885k6X — Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) January 13, 2018

RETWEET to make your voice heard and say NO to violence and NO to racism. Lawlessness seen here cannot be allowed. Stand up against racism peacefully and protest within the framework of the law. @MbalulaFikile @Abramjee @MmusiMaimane H&M pic.twitter.com/VvdjPjs0AU — #MakeSASafe (@MakeSAsafe) January 13, 2018

But he denied sending EFF supporters to trash the stores.

Mr Malema added: “They went because they wanted to go.

“To say people were sent, it means you are undermining black people that they cannot think on their own.”

Although many online users across the country welcomed the radical action, other warned that if H&M did abandon the country it would mean hundreds of jobs, mainly held by black people, would be lost.

Others pointed out that the mess and chaos caused would also be left to black workers to clean up.

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Spokeswoman for H&M South Africa, Amelia-May Woudstra said: “What matters most to us is the safety of our employees and customers.

“None of our staff or customers have been injured.”

She said they would continue to monitor the situation and would open the stores as soon as everything was safe again.

Ms Woudstra said: “We strongly believe that racism and bias in any shape or form, deliberate or accidental, are simply unacceptable.

“We stress that our wonderful store staff had nothing to do with our poorly judged product and image.”

The global retailer, which has 4,500 stores in 62 countries, opened its first store in Africa two years ago and immediately found itself at the centre of a public backlash when it failed to feature any black models in its advertising.

Asked by a South African shopper via Twitter why it had only white models to promote its new African shops, H&M replied that "it’s essential for us to convey a positive message" which inflamed the row further, prompting the business to apologise for any offence.