two weeks before the 21st March 1960 Robert Sobukwe had written to Chief Albert Luthuli, ANC president then, inviting the ANC to come into the 21 March 1960 pass campaign, the ANC rejected participation....On the morning of the 21 March 1960 Sobukwe woke up a bit earlier than usual. He ate his usual breakfast of porridge, eggs bread and tea. He had prayed with his wife Veronica the previous day for a successful campaign. Together with six PAC men he walked down Dube Station and headed to the Sowetos main police station. In Sharpville between 5000 and 7000 blacks had gathered for the campaign, telling the police that they had left their passes at home and wanted to be arrested. The police said they could not lock up so many people. By 1:30 pm the crowd had increased to about 20000. Police reinforcements arrived until there were 300 of them, with Saracen armoured cars...the shooting started. There were hundreds of women and kids running away. One policeman was standing on the top of the Saracen firing his sten-gun into the fleeing crown, moving slowly from side to side, as if he was panning a movie camera. After a while the guns stopped shooting. 68 people were left dead and 186 injured, (Robert Sobukwe : how can a man die better: Pogrund 1990: pages 122-135)
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 08:12:32 +0000
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