1 575 people are detained under a state of emergency

The events which led to mass detentions in April 1960 were the following: A state of emergency was called after anti-pass demonstrations at Sharpeville, Langa and Nyanga, organised by the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) on 21 March 1960, led to bloodshed and chaos. At Sharpeville sixty-nine Blacks were killed, including eight women and ten children, while 178 were wounded. At Langa two Blacks were shot dead.  While the killings at Sharpeville ended the anti-pass campaign in the Transvaal to a large extent, it gained new force in the Cape Peninsula. On 25 March Phillip Kgosana, branch organiser of the PAC, led a demonstration of between 2 000 and 5 000 supporters into the city, where they were confronted by a force of the South African Police (SAP) under Col. I.B.S. Terblanche. The intervention of Patrick Duncan, a prominent member of the Liberal Party prevented bloodshed and secured the release of Kgosana and other leaders arrested during the demonstration. A strike was called by the PAC, which ultimately involved 95% of the African work force in the Cape. A brutal police raid on Langa on 30 March, provoked one of the largest marches in Cape Town's history, when 30 000 Blacks marched into the city to Caledon Square to protest against police brutality. The government reacted by declaring a state of emergency on 30 March in 122 districts; calling up units of the Active Citizens force to isolate the townships Langa and Nyanga; and by adopting the Unlawful Organisations Act, thereby banning the African National Congress (ANC) and the PAC. In the ensuing days all food, water and electricity supplies to the two townships were cut off and cordons of troops and armoured cars prevented any one from entering or leaving. It was estimated that about 23 000 people of all races, though mostly Blacks, were arrested during the state of emergency, which was lifted on 31 August. Sources: Liebenberg, B.J. & Spies, S.B. (eds) (1993). South Africa in the 20th Century, Pretoria: Van Schaik Academic, pp 390-396. Muller, C.F.J. (ed) (1981). Five Hundred years: a history of South Africa; 3rd rev. ed., Pretoria: Academica, p. 500. Saunders, C. (ed) (1988). Reader's Digest Illustrated History of South Africa-The Real Story, Cape Town: Reader's Digest, pp. 406-7. http://africanhistory.about.com/library/thisday/bl-ThisDay0422.htm  http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/campaigns/passes.html