Sharpeville massacre

The Sharpeville Massacre was an event which occurred on 21 March 1960, at the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in Transvaal (today part of Gauteng).

After a day of demonstrations against pass laws, a crowd of about 5,000 to 7,000 black African protesters went to the police station. The South African Police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people. Sources disagree as to the behavior of the crowd; some state that the crowd was peaceful, while others state that the crowd had been hurling stones at the police, and that the shooting started when the crowd started advancing toward the fence around the police station.