June 16, 1976 - 152 Children - Soweto

152 children killed during peaceful demonstration in Soweto, South Africa. During South Africa’s years of white minority rule under its apartheid system, many people protested the inhumane and discriminatory treatment of the country’s black majority. But when the government forced Afrikaans – the language of the blacks’ oppressors – on black school children, it went a step too far. On June 16, 1976, 10,000 children in the township of Soweto gathered to protest the use of Afrikaans in their schools. When police released tear gas on their peaceful demonstration, students began throwing rocks. Police responded by shooting into the crowd. When the smoke had cleared, 152 children had been killed, and others wounded. The event sent shock waves through the world, and emboldened Soweto’s blacks to fight the government and police not just for the Afrikaans issue, but for atrocities committed. In this second round, more than 700 young people died. It took a year, but the government finally backed down on its language policy; Afrikaans was no longer taught in black schools.

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