Event    From 21/3/1960  To 21/3/1960

Sharpeville Massacre

Categories: Race Issues, Tragedy

Countries: South Africa

This took place near the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in Transvaal (today part of Gauteng). After a day of demonstrations against pass laws (these were an internal passport system, designed to segregate the population), a crowd of about 5,000 to 7,000 black protesters went to the station where the police opened fire on them, killing 69 people. Sources disagree as to the behaviour of the crowd; some state that the crowd was peaceful, while others said they had been hurling stones at the police, and that the shooting started when they began advancing towards the fence around the station. Since 1994, 21st March has been commemorated as Human Rights Day in South Africa.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sharpeville Massacre

Commemorated ati

Sharpeville Massacre

{On the large plaque with an image of protesters on a map of Africa:} Sharpev...

Read More

Other Subjects

198 Gallery

198 Gallery

Also known as 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning. An art space and gallery in Railton Road, Brixton that for more than three decades has had a strong commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion...

Group, Art, Community / Clubs, Race Issues

1 memorial
William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

Born in Liverpool. Liberal Prime Minister four times. One of the Commissioners for the Great Exhibition. Queen Victoria moaned that "He speaks to me as if I were a public meeting". Caroline's Misce...

Person, Jack the Ripper suspects, Politics & Administration, Race Issues, Seriously Famous

10 memorials
Rev. John Venn

Rev. John Venn

Clergyman and anti-slavery campaigner.  Born Clapham, son of the vicar at the time.  1792, under John Thornton's will, appointed rector of Clapham, a post he held until his death and where he was a...

Person, Race Issues, Religion

2 memorials
Mangrove Restaurant

Mangrove Restaurant

At 8 All Saints Road, Notting Hill.  Created and owned for 24 years by Crichlow.  It was a centre for political and social activism within the African and Caribbean culture.  Visitors included: Jim...

Place, Commerce, Community / Clubs, Food & Drink, Race Issues

1 memorial
Robert Wedderburn

Robert Wedderburn

Wikipedia tells the sorry story of this man.  Born to a West African slave woman in Jamaica, his father, James Wedderburn, being a Scottish doctor and plantation owner, who had children by several ...

Person, Race Issues, Religion, Jamaica

1 memorial