PROTESTS IN LONDON

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29162, 24 March 1960, Page 13

PROTESTS IN LONDON

600 Chant “Murder”

LONDON, March 22. Six hundred persons chanting “Murder, murder, murder” today demonstrated outside South Africa House in protest at deaths in yesterday’s South African riots. There were some struggles with police who tried to keep the streets clear. One man was arrested. The demonstrators included students, members of the Liberal Party, and several religious organisations. Some carried posters saying: “We hope you sleep well tonight.” “Blood on your hands,” and “We mourn the people you have murdered.” A few persons had picketed South Africa House throughout the night. In the House of Commons, the Government rejected a Labour Opposition proposal that it should sponsor or contribute to a fund for the dependents of those who died in the riots.

The Labour Party leader (Mr Gaitskell) said the Opposition “deeply deplores this tragic event.”

The Speaker (Sir Harry Hyl-ton-Foster) -turned down a Labour proposal to adjourn the House for an hour “in view of the shock this has caused to the whole of Britain.”

Later about 50 Labour members of Parliament signed a motion of protest which was tabled in the House of Commons by Mr John Stonehouse, a member prominent in African affairs. It urged the Government “to protest in the strongest possible terms to the Government of the Union of South Africa" about the shooting, and to convey “the abhorrence of the British people that such an outrage should take place within the British Commonwealth.”

Organisations in various parts of the country passed resolutions on the South African troubles.

The National Council for Civil Liberties issued a statement calling on the Government to intercede with the South African Government to reverse its policy of apartheid. It also called for immediate withdrawal of the pass laws—the cause of the riots—which it. called “an offence not only to Africans but all who believe in human rights.”

Two policemen guarded the entrance to South Africa House as workers left the building. Some demonstrators rushed forward, waving leaflets in their faces. Tonight the few demonstrators left outside South Africa House were kept on the move by policemen. Five of them carried placards with the word “murder” pasted across them.