Several branches of the South African health and beauty company Clicks have been forced to close, after it ran a hair advertisement slammed by critics as racist.
The Clicks shampoo advert, commissioned by the TRESemme hair company and ran on the pharmacy's website, included pictures of African hair labelled dry, dull and damaged, while an example of white hair was described as fine, flat and normal.
The opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) called the advert "racist" and "dehumanising", and urged people to protest outside the company's outlets.
On Twitter, the EFF posted: "We will not permit the unrepentant and perverse racism of Clicks to go on in South Africa. #clicksmustfall."
EFF supporters, wearing the party's red berets, raided several stores across the country on Monday, forcing some to close, with others instigating security guards to form a protective line in front of singing protestors.
Leader Julius Malema has called for all Clicks stores to be closed, and the local news website TimesLive reported that at least one store had been petrol-bombed early in the morning, causing minor damage.
Mr Malema told his supported to be "combat ready" and claimed the EFF wouldn't be "intimidated by threats", despite Clicks threatening the political party with legal action.
In a statement, EFF said: "The implications of this are that black identity exists as inferior to the identity of white people.
"It is an assertion that white standards of beauty are to be aspired to and features of black represent damage, decay and abnormality."
In 2018, party members similarly held protests against clothing retailer H&M after the company published a catalogue showing a black boy wearing a hoodie with the slogan "coolest monkey in the jungle".
Clicks Pharmacy is one of the two largest retailers in the country, with more than 500 stores, and removed the advert posted last week, due to mounting anger.
On Friday, in a statement on it's Twitter account, Clicks said: "We are strong advocates of natural hair and are deeply sorry we have offended our natural hair community.
"We have made a mistake and sincerely apologise for letting you down."
Clicks boss Vikesh Ramsunder said: "[I am] deeply disappointed that we allowed insensitive and offensive images to be published on our website."
He added that the "negligent employees" had been suspended.
Many social media users also expressed their outrage over the advert, with the hashtag #BlackHairMatter trending on Twitter, as well as #RacismMustFall and #BlackHairIsNormal.
Zozibini Tunzi, who was crowned Miss Universe in December, tweeted: "Not only is this disrespectful to black lives, it is also evidence of an absence of representation and diversity within the organisation.
"And we are talking about a South Africa with a population of about 80% black people."