Police shoot anti-pass protesters in Langa

Africanists who had broken from the ANC formed the PAC at Orlando Community Hall. Robert Sobukwe became president and emphasized African leadership and anti-colonial liberation.

The act abolished limited African parliamentary representation and divided Africans into state-defined ethnic units. It advanced the Bantustan project while denying common South African citizenship.

After years of prosecution, defence lawyers began presenting the case for the activists accused of plotting to overthrow the state. The proceedings had already imposed heavy costs on the Congress...

Sobukwe informed the police that the Pan Africanist Congress would begin a disciplined, nonviolent campaign against pass laws on 21 March.

Police opened fire on an unarmed anti-pass gathering at Sharpeville, killing 69 people and wounding about 180. The massacre transformed resistance inside South Africa and international opposition to...

Prime Minister Verwoerd praised the police and denied that the violence reflected opposition to apartheid. Authorities also detained PAC leaders and prepared sedition charges.

Robert Sobukwe, P. K. Leballo and eleven others were charged with incitement following the protests. The prosecutions formed part of a rapid state crackdown.

Representatives of 29 African and Asian countries asked the Security Council to address the crisis in South Africa, helping move apartheid repression onto the international agenda.

Overcrowded jails and mass defiance forced the police commissioner to suspend pass-law enforcement temporarily. The announcement revealed the practical power of collective resistance.

The ANC called a national strike and day of mourning. Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela publicly burned their passbooks as communities protested police killings and pass laws.