Umkhonto we Sizwe begins its sabotage campaign

The apartheid state developed Robben Island as a maximum-security site for political imprisonment. It later held leaders and members of several liberation movements.

The law permitted twelve-day detention without bail and criminalized prohibited gatherings, strengthening the state's tools against political organizing.

The ANC-organized action opposed the establishment of a white republic without democratic participation by the Black majority. Large numbers of workers stayed home despite intimidation.

South Africa became a republic and left the Commonwealth. A nationwide stay-at-home challenged a constitutional change made without consent of the Black majority.

Applied retrospectively to 21 March 1960, the act protected the government and its agents from legal responsibility for violence and torture carried out in official duties.

In his statement 'We don't want crumbs,' Luthuli rejected the government's homeland policy and demanded equal citizenship rather than fragmented ethnic administrations.

The confrontation reflected the growth of underground armed resistance after the PAC was banned. A policeman was killed and several others injured.

Police captured Mandela after seventeen months underground. He had organized resistance and travelled abroad to seek political and military support.

The restriction isolated Joseph from political and social life and illustrated how banning and house arrest targeted women as well as men in the liberation movement.

The resolution condemned apartheid, called for diplomatic and economic measures, and established the Special Committee on South Africa to sustain international action.