Resistance erupts again in Soweto

Students met to support the Soweto uprising and decided to boycott classes, helping carry youth resistance into the Western Cape.

About 20,000 residents marched along the Soweto Highway while students called on workers to stay away. The action connected student revolt with working-class power.

Protests and clashes reached Langa, Nyanga and Guguletu as young people in the Western Cape joined the national revolt against Bantu Education and apartheid rule.

Students from three Cape high schools organized a demonstration to coincide with a general strike called by student leaders in Johannesburg.

An estimated 200,000 Coloured workers stayed away on 15 and 16 September, linking worker action to the expanding youth revolt.

Nine Black Consciousness activists were convicted after a lengthy political trial; six received six-year terms and three received five-year terms on Robben Island.

Security police re-arrested Biko under apartheid security laws as the state intensified repression of Black Consciousness after the 1976 uprising.

Biko was detained at a roadblock while travelling despite his banning order. He was taken into security police custody and interrogated.

Biko died from severe brain injuries after assault and neglect by security police. His killing drew worldwide condemnation and exposed torture in detention.

The funeral at King William's Town became a mass political gathering attended by mourners, diplomats and liberation activists.