Police open fire at Sharpeville

This moment describes violence or loss under apartheid. It is told through the people who lived it, from the sources linked below.

On 21 March 1960 thousands of people gathered outside the police station in Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg, to protest against the pass laws by presenting themselves for arrest without their passbooks. The police opened fire on the crowd. Sixty-nine people were killed and about 180 wounded, many shot in the back as they ran. The government declared a state of emergency and banned the ANC and PAC. The date is now Human Rights Day.