Читать книгу Let Freedom Reign - Henry Russell - Страница 13

A crowd of 20,000 Africans gathered in the black township of Sharpeville – near Vereeniging, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Johannesburg – to protest against the pass laws, which obliged non-whites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas.

Police opened fire with submachine guns, killing 69 of the demonstrators and wounding a further 180, including 50 women and children.

The Sharpeville massacre prompted the imposition of martial law and confirmed Mandela’s decision – made during the treason trial – that, when he walked free from the court, he would not return to his home but go underground. It also made him certain that the time for peaceful protest was at an end, as is evident in the words that follow.

… I did not mask the fact that I believed a new day was dawning. I said [to ANC colleagues], ‘If the government reaction is to crush by naked force our non-violent struggle, we will have to reconsider our tactics. In my mind we are closing a chapter on this question of a non-violent policy’. It was a grave declaration, and I knew it. I was criticized by [the ANC] Executive for making that remark before it was discussed by the organization, but sometimes one must go public with an idea to push a reluctant organization in the direction you want it to go.