Photos

The Boycott Movement produced three issues of its broadsheet, Boycott News, early in 1960. The first issue sold over 100,000 copies and reprinted an appeal for an international boycott of South African goods by ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli. This anti-apartheid supporter was selling the broadsheet outside South Africa House.

In the week following the Sharpeville massacre, there were daily protests outside the South African High Commission in London. Police tried to break up the protests. In this photo a student is manhandled into a police car during a demonstration the day after the massacre.

In the week following the Sharpeville massacre, there were daily protests outside the South African High Commission in London. London printworkers, seen here in Charing Cross Road with their banner proclaiming ‘South Africa Stinks’,  joined the demonstrations the day after the massacre.

In the week following the Sharpeville massacre, there were daily protests outside the South African High Commission in London. In this photo a woman is manhandled by police officers trying to clear the area of protestors.

In the week following the Sharpeville massacre, there were daily protests outside the South African High Commission in London. In this photo a policeman tries to snatch a blood-smeared photograph of the massacre from the hands of a protestor.

Thousands of people marched through central London on 27 March 1960 to protest against the massacre of 69 unarmed South Africans at Sharpeville on 21 March. The march was organised by the Boycott Movement, together with the Movement for Colonial Freedom and the Committee of African Organisations. It was followed by a rally in Trafalgar Square, organised by the Labour Party. In the days following the shootings, there were scuffles with police outside South Africa House as crowds gathered to protest.

Twenty thousand people gathered in Trafalgar Square to protest against the massacre of 69 unarmed demonstrators at Sharpeville on 21 March. The rally was organised by the Labour Party. Speakers included African National Congress leader Tennyson Makiwane, Labour’s Colonial Affairs spokesperson James Callaghan and Robert Willis from the TUC General Council. In the days following the massacre crowds gathered spontaneously outside South Africa House.

James Callaghan, Labour spokesperson on Colonial Affairs, spoke at a 20,000-strong rally in Trafalgar Square on 27 March 1960 to protest against the Sharpeville shootings. The rally was organised by the Labour Party. Also on the platform were African National Congress leader Tennyson Makiwane, Robert Willis from the TUC General Council and Labour MPs Barbara Castle, Anthony Greenwood and Jim Griffiths. In the days following the massacre crowds gathered spontaneously outside South Africa House.