Recent anger over an advert by the retail giant H&M has spilled out into violence, with several store branches in South Africa being trashed by protesters.

The Swedish company was forced to issue an apology after an advert was released which showed a black child wearing a jumper which read "coolest monkey in the jungle".

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It has since been removed from all of their clothing campaigns.

But in South Africa, protesters from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), targeted six branches of the store in Gauteng province, throwing clothes and tearing down shelves.

Police were forced to fire rubber bullets to prevent the scenes escalating.

Earlier in the week, H&M said: "We understand that many people are upset about the image.

"We who work at H&M can only agree. We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print."

But this apology was described as being "too little too late" by a spokesperson for the EFF.

Mbuyiseni Ndlozi from the ultra-left group said: "The time of apologies for racism are over; there must be consequences to anti-black racism, period!"

H&M South Africa did not comment on the protests but added that "our position is simple, we have got this wrong and we are deeply sorry."

Despite the police presence, no arrests were made.

South Africa