Why Did The Sharpville Riots Of 1960

SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE 1960

On the 21 March 1960 between 5000 and 7000 black south africans had gathered at the Sharpeville police station to protest against the pass laws, which required them to always carry a reference book with them, which contained various personal details. If they didn’t carry this reference book with them at all times, it would be considered as an illegal act and they would be detained for up to 30 days. The black people said that these laws were made by an apartheid government to actively restrict their mobility in so called “white areas”. The whole point of the non violent protest was for all the black south africans to show up at the police station without their reference book and then get arrested. This, said PAC (Pan

From 26 May 1948, South Africa was run by the National Party government, who came to power on the political platform of Apartheid. Not only did apartheid separate whites from non-whites, it also segregated the Blacks (Africans) from the Coloured (Indians, Asians). All things such as jobs, schools, railway stations, beaches, park benches, public toilets and even parliament. Apartheid also prevented blacks from living in white areas. This brought on the hated "pass laws" which was the reason that the protest in Sharpeville happened in the first place. The system of Apartheid began to deteriorate in the mid to late 1980 's. In 1985, mixed marriages were allowed, the Pass laws repealed, and a general weakening of petty segregation laws regarding parks and beaches. In 1994, the entire system of Apartheid collapsed after F.W. de Klerk gave non-whites permission to

The Sharpeville Massacre is to this day today known to have received international coverage and the world was left stunned. At that point the world fated the events which had occurred in South Africa at that time. South Africa’s removal from the British Commonwealth in 1961 marked the first diplomatic embarrassment against the Apartheid government. The South African government justified their actions by the possibility of black violence that could have been started at the protest in Sharpeville. South Africa was later sanctioned. The event was the reason public meetings were banned after that dreadful day, On the 1st of April, 1960, the UN passed Resolution 134 ( 9 voting for, 0 voted against and 2 countries abstained) regarding “the situation arising out of large-scale killings of unarmed and peaceful demonstrators against racial discrimination and segregation in the Union of South Africa”, with the council recognizing that the Sharpeville Massacre was brought about by the policies of the government of the Union of South Africa and that if these policies were allowed to continue, they could endanger international peace and