June 16 1976: How events on the fateful day unfolded

ON the morning of June 16 1976, between 10 000 and 20 000 black pupils walked from their schools to Orlando Stadium for a rally to protest against having to learn through Afrikaans in school. Many who later took part in the protest arrived at school without prior knowledge of it, yet agreed to become involved. The protest was planned by the Soweto Students’ Representative Council’s (SSRC) action committee, with support from the wider Black Consciousness Movement. Teachers in Soweto also supported the march after the action committee emphasised good discipline and peaceful action. Tsietsi Mashinini led students from Morris Isaacson High School to join up with others who walked from Naledi High School. They began the march only to find police had barricaded the road along their route. The march continued on another route, ending up near Orlando High School. The crowd moved towards the school. Students sang and waved placards with slogans such as, “Down with Afrikaans”, “Viva Azania” and “If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu”.

The police set a dog on the protesters, who responded by killing it. The police then began to shoot directly at the children. One of the first students to be shot dead was 13-year-old Hector Pieterson. He was shot at Orlando West High School and became the symbol of the Soweto uprising. The police attacks continued and 23 people died on the first day in Soweto. Among them was Dr Melville Edelstein, who had devoted his life to social welfare among blacks. He was stoned to death by the mob and left with a sign around his neck proclaiming “Beware Afrikaners”. The violence escalated, as bottle stores and beer halls – seen as outposts of the apartheid government – were targeted, as were the official outposts of the state. The violence abated by nightfall. Police vans and armoured vehicles patrolled the streets throughout the night. Emergency clinics were swamped with injured and bloody children. The police requested that the hospital provide a list of all victims with bullet wounds. The hospital administrator passed this request to the doctors, but the doctors refused to create the list. Doctors recorded bullet wounds as abscesses.