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THE SHARPVILLE MASSACRE (1960) AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE - Coggle Diagram
THE SHARPVILLE MASSACRE (1960) AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
LEAD UP TO THE EVENTS
The area of Sharpeville:
centre of protest.
model township.
Population increased after group areas act = more anger amongst people.
PAC branch founded in Sharpeville in 1959.
Hard, dangerous, had lots of crime.
Became a key area for radicalisation.
PAC was active here (unlike ANC) and worked to increase membership in the area.
CAUSES
The police were on edge - there had been disturbances at Sharpeville over the previous weekend.
Senior police officers were indecisive and didn't give firm leadership.
The Police were reluctant to make arrests - did arrest the PAC leader before the shooting.
Anti-pass law protests.
EVENTS
21 March 1960 - 5000-20,000 people peacefully protesting the pass laws outside the police station in Sharpeville.
The protestors were demanding to be arrested for not carrying passes, but the police refused to arrest so many because it was impractical. (point of the protest). This standoff continued all morning.
More senior officers arrived to try and control the situation. There were 400 police present:
200 white officers armed with 303 rifles.
200 African officers carrying clubs.
Accounts suggest that a drunken protestor fired his pistol at the same time as one of the senior police officers stumbled. This gave police the impression that the protestor had shot the officer. This led the police to begin shooting at the crowd.
69 demonstrators killed and almost 200 were injured.
CONSEQUENCES
INTERNATIONAL REACTION
UN passed resolution 134 - blamed the shootings on the Apartheid system and condemned the SA govt for the massacre.
Investors took their money out of SA.
The British Commonwealth conference criticised SA. SA left the commonwealth.
REACTION OF AA PROTESTORS
Caused ANC/PAC to believe that non-violent protest was ineffective.
ANC/PAC set up militant resistance organisations. ANC- MK, PAC- POQO.
AA groups set up in many countries, including Britain.
Young Africans left SA to train as guerrillas.
ANC and PAC set up headquarters abroad. Oliver Tambo was given the job of winning international support for the ANC.
GOVT REACTION
Govt arrested 18,000 people.
Blamed the ANC and PAC
Govt introduced more pro-apartheid measures and supression of opposition:
1962 Sabotage Act: carried death penalty for acts of sabotage.
General Laws Amendment Act 1963: enabled authorities to arrest anyone for 90 days without holding charges against them.
Sobukwe clause: allowed security forces to keep people in prison beyond their sentence.
Govt introduced new security police.
Authorities set up a network of spies/informers to gain access to opposition groups and entrap opponents.
Banned the ANC and PAC.