CBSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE

Detailed explanation-1: -In March 1960, a group called the Pan African Congress (PAC) decided to organize a peaceful protest in the black township of Sharpeville. The plan was for protestors to march to the local police station without their passes and ask to be arrested.

Detailed explanation-2: -It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa. The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), a splinter group of the African National Congress (ANC) created in 1959, organized a countrywide demonstration for March 21, 1960, for the abolition of South Africa’s pass laws.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of about 7, 000 protesters went to the police station.

Detailed explanation-4: -International responses The Sharpeville massacre was reported worldwide, and received with horror from every quarter. South Africa had already been harshly criticised for its apartheid policies, and this incident fuelled anti-apartheid sentiments as the international conscience was deeply stirred.

Detailed explanation-5: -On 21 March 1985, on the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, members of the South African Police opened fire on a crowd of people gathered on Maduna Road between Uitenhage and Langa township in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.