Shoooting At Sharpeville

Victor Gollancz, London, 1960. Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. First Edition. With 30 photographs taken before, during and after the shooting: and a foreword by Chief Luthuli. Blue cloth, gilt titles to spine. 159pp. includes Appendices. No trace of foxing to text block edges. Contents clean. Not Price clipped DJ has minor wear to spine tips and corners, clear tape applied to top and bottom edges and spine. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

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 protesters went to the police station. The South African Police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people and injuring 180 others. Sources disagree as to the behaviour 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. There were 249 casualties in total, including 29 children. Many sustained back injuries from being shot as they fled.